Beams of Hope: Using Radiotherapy to Save Lives and Close the Care Gap
Why September 7 Matters:
This year marks the inaugural celebration of World Radiotherapy Awareness Day (WRAD) on September 7, 2025—a historic milestone in raising global awareness about the transformative role of radiotherapy in cancer treatment. The date, September 7, commemorates the first patient ever treated on a linear accelerator at Hammersmith Hospital in 1953. This innovation revolutionized cancer treatment and is therefore an important date for radiotherapy.
Globally, 200 million people live in a country with no access to radiotherapy – and more than 40 countries in Asia and Africa do not even have one trained radiation oncologist, medical physicist and radiotherapy technologist.
As we shine a spotlight on this powerful therapy, we celebrate its impact on millions of lives, honor the dedicated professionals who deliver it with precision and care, and advocate for greater investment to ensure its benefits are accessible to all who need them.
What’s Radiotherapy, and Why is It So Important?
Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, is a vital tool in the fight against cancer. By delivering targeted beams of high energy, it shrinks, controls, or destroys tumors with remarkable precision. Globally, 50–60% of cancer patients will require radiotherapy at some point in their treatment journey. Its impact is profound: studies estimate that ensuring access to radiotherapy for all who need it by 2035 could save over one million lives annually. From curing early-stage cancers to alleviating pain in advanced cases, radiotherapy is a cornerstone of comprehensive cancer care.
