Raising awareness across the UK
Ignorance about the prostate gland and prostate cancer can mean that diagnosis and treatment come too late. It’s vital we raise awareness of the disease and its symptoms.
Awareness Week
What does a prostate gland do and where is it? An ICM poll we commissioned, during our Prostate Cancer Awareness Week (March 21- 27), revealed that most UK adults don’t know these basic facts. These findings helped us gain mass media coverage across more than 100 publications, reaching millions of readers.
Throughout 2004/05, The Prostate Cancer Charity was specifically named in more than half of all print media stories about prostate cancer.
National effort
Our National Prostate Cancer Conference in November 2004 was a huge success, attracting top UK and international speakers, over 300 delegates and unprecedented media interest. The Government launched its four-year review report, Making Progress on Prostate Cancer, at the conference, crediting a number of our initiatives.
"I think we all felt an incredible sense of potential for the future," says Chief Executive, John Neate. "We brought together men diagnosed with the disease, health care professionals, policy makers and other prostate cancer charities, and showed that we’re leading an inclusive national effort. We’re particularly grateful for the generosity of pharmaceutical companies, like AstraZeneca, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, who gave over £30,000 in total."
Amicus partnership
One of our biggest awareness raising partnerships last year was with the trade union, Amicus, and its 1.2 million members. "Lots of men don’t have a clue about prostate cancer," says Rob Miguel, Health and Safety Officer. "Working closely with The Prostate Cancer Charity, we’ve been able to tell our members what to look out for, and what do about it."
What matters to men with prostate cancer?
Our User Advisory Group – ten people with personal experience of prostate cancer – meets regularly and ensures we keep in touch with the needs of men and their families.
This year, it helped create the Charity’s First National Survey, the results of which will be published in November 2005. We expect powerful evidence about men’s experience of prostate cancer and of using NHS services.
New website
A new National Prostate Cancer Website, providing intelligent signposting to a wealth of prostate cancer information, will be launched in late 2005. The site is being jointly funded by the Department of Health and the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, a collaboration of 22 organisations. John Neate, our Chief Executive, chairs the group which is developing this project.
back: A user's perspective | next: A leaflet can save a life