The importance of health literacy in cancer awareness

This digest was prepared to draw attention to the importance of health literacy in cancer awareness, relationship between cancer awareness and health literacy is examined in view of current information.Cancer ranks the second among the causes of death in our country and in the world.In the highly globalizing World, due to the population increase accompanied by aging, an increase in cancer disease is observed.This causes physical, emotional, and financial burdens on social health systems, so, cancer remains a significant public health issue.According to a World Health Organization report, 9.6 million people worldwide died of cancer in 2018, or one in six people.Cancer, falls into the category of non-communicable disease, is a chronic disease that progresses slowly, lasts for a long time with treatment, and monitoring which disrupts the quality of life of persons.Early diagnosis of cancer by persons and society, and awareness of people about it, with adequate knowledge about what they must do are fundamental steps for cancer awareness.Cancer is socially considered a malignant disease and public awareness about it is based on health literacy.