World Digestive Health Day, theme for the year : Liver cancer: Act today - save your life tomorrow : WDHD

World Digestive Health Day, an annual event of the World Gastroenterology Organisation, serves to highlight important digestive health issues. The South African Gastroenterology Society, an affiliate and special interest group of the South African Medical Association (SAMA), fully supports this initiative, particularly as this year the focus is on liver cancer, a significant yet potentially preventable disease in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).The challenge for 2013 of 'acting today and saving a life tomorrow' with respect to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is a formidable one. Globally, HCC is the 5th most common human cancer with approximately 800 000 new cases annually. It ranks 3rd in global cancer mortality and has the shortest survival time of any cancer.