Sanjay Dutt becomes the face of United Nations Cancer Awareness program

Sanjay Dutt. Image source: Yogen Shah

Actor Sanjay Dutt, Global Champion for Cancer Care with The Defeat-NCD Partnership at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, was diagnosed with advanced cancer in late 2020 and is now in remission following treatment.

During the event at the UN, the actor shared his personal journey of living with cancer, and living with immediate family members who lost their lives to the disease - recognising the important role that health practitioners and family members play in each patient's journey to battle this chronic disease. Despite the great scientific advances in treatment solutions, he expressed his frustration at the exorbitant and differentiated costs of cancer treatment across different countries.

He questioned how those less fortunate and privileged than him would be able to access treatment options available today, even if they were diagnosed early enough. These inequalities and his personal journey have driven and motivated Sanjay Dutt to lend his voice, through The Defeat-NCD Partnership to champion the work across 90 plus low resource countries and accelerate action towards the United Nations

Sanjay pledged his commitment to applying his industry expertise as an artist and film producer, combined with his public reach through millions of followers, to advocate for increased awareness, prevention, and better management of cancer. In this regard, preparatory work has already commenced at The Defeat-NCD Partnership on research and development of a script for a film on the theme of living with cancer.