The mass
media campaign includes TV, radio and online advertising and is the biggest bowel
cancer public education campaign Cancer Council has ever rolled out in
Victoria.
Bowel cancer claims the lives of more than 1,300 Victorians each year. This is four times more Victorians than road
accidents1. If found early 90% of bowel cancers can be successfully
treated. Despite this, only 40% of eligible Victorians complete the bowel
cancer screening test when they receive it in the mail.
Cancer Council
hopes that this campaign will help to increase participation to 50% and lead to
an additional 20,000 Victorians taking the test this year.
Todd Harper,
CEO of Cancer Council Victoria, said that a health professional’s encouragement
can be extremely powerful when it comes to influencing patients’ health
behaviours.
“We know that
if a doctor recommends the home bowel screening test to a patient, they are
more likely to do it than if they simply receive the test through the mail. We
are asking all health professionals to help us improve Victoria’s current low
40% screening rate, by speaking to all their patients 50-74 years and
encouraging them to complete the free home screening test.”
Find out more
A range of
resources specifically for health professionals are available to help you
support this campaign, including tips for encouraging participation,
instructional videos, clinical guidelines and FAQs.
For Cancer
Council resources including factsheets on bowel cancer prevention and risk, go
to our order page and search for ‘bowel
cancer’. In addition, the Understanding Bowel Cancer booklet has
been prepared to help people understand more about bowel cancer. It explores
treatment options for early and advanced cancer and how to cope with the
changes bowel cancer and the treatment may bring.
1Victorian 2016 Road Toll - http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/statistics/lives-lost-annual
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