STAY SUN SMART

Ireland is taking the health of its outdoors-loving crowd seriously. In a new campaign launched by the Marie Keating Foundation, the focus is on getting farmers, sportspersons and gardeners to focus on their skin health through the year. The campaign urges people to be ‘SunSmart’ and is focused on bringing down the incidence of melanoma, the rate of which has more than tripled between 1994 and 2014. The Marie Keating Foundation has practical tips to offer those who spend a lot of time outdoors, from the most obvious ones like to use sunscreen and sunglasses, to ‘never use sunbeds’. The foundation also observed the fact that 20% of Irish men cannot distinguish the visible signs of skin cancer; creating awareness about this is also a part of the campaign.

LOOK, THEN FLUSH

The ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign launched by Public Health England aims at highlighting blood in urine as an indicator of cancers of the bladder and the kidneys. ‘Look before you flush’ is one of the key action points being highlighted in this campaign, which urges people to visit their doctor even if they have spotted blood in their pee at least once. Those aged 50 years and above are the most at risk to develop these cancers. And a survey shows that only 16% of this population checks the colour of their pee every time.

PROTECT THOSE BREASTS

The Jordan Breast Cancer Awareness Programme launched its 10th Breast Cancer Awareness Competition. The contest aims at promoting breast cancer awareness through the media, and will last for three months. The competition will run across print and audio-visual media, and the various categories for participation include new stories, columns and documentaries, among others. Breast cancer is on the rise in Jordan, and the King Hussein Cancer Foundation strongly believes that the media has an important role to play in bringing down the incidence of cancer.

CUP THEM SAFE

In a move that was timed just right, Health Care Global (HCG) did a breast cancer awareness campaign that coincided with the FIFA World Cup 2018. The campaign, which used #PreserveYourCups, looked at encouraging periodic breast cancer screening and spreading awareness about early detection. With short videos on the theme of ‘My Life Is Greater Than Cancer’, HCG told the stories of young breast cancer survivors to drive home the importance of early detection.

THE GIFT OF CONFIDENCE

Students of Bengaluru’s Mount Carmel College donated enough hair to the Cherian Foundation to create 350 wigs for cancer patients at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology. Fifty students donated their hair to the Gift Hair, Gift Confidence campaign, with one student going all the way and tonsuring for the campaign. The wigs will be used for female patients undergoing chemotherapy at the hospital; once they are discharged, the wigs will be cleaned and used for the next patient. Temporary hair loss is a fallout of second round of chemotherapy, and often, rural patients lack the resources to make a wig for themselves before the start of treatment.