According to Cancer Research UK, in England and Wales cancer survival rate is now twice as high as 50 years ago with 1 in 2 people diagnosed with cancer surviving their disease for 10 years or more.
Information is crucial in the fight against cancer
As a nation we are more informed about how we can reduce our risk by making lifestyle changes. We are also increasingly conscious that early diagnosis often leads to better outcomes and treatment options so we attend screenings and seek medical advice if something does not feel quite right.
Last week, on World Cancer Day (4 February) the government launched a 10 Year National Cancer Plan. It pledges to fund more targeted early diagnosis initiatives and increase screening uptake helping to catch more cancers at their earliest, more treatable stages.
Ensuring everyone can access the information they need
The plan also pledges to target deprived and under-served areas. This aligns closely with the objectives of our Communities Against Cancer project which raises cancer awareness and specifically targets under-served communities in Hampshire & IOW and Dorset.
Sally Rickard, the Managing Director of Wessex Cancer Alliance (funders of the Communities Against Cancer project) has published a response to the 10 Year Plan and explains how it relates to Wessex. She comments;
“Inequalities are a core driver in the plan and it repeatedly stresses poorer and under-served communities are diagnosed later and experience worse outcomes. In our own local plan, we have stressed the prioritisation that we put on working very specifically with each of the different communities across our geography and how we want to be sure that everybody feels heard and that the service is responsive to them”.
Communities Against Cancer helps raise awareness in Dorset, Hampshire and IOW
Through our network of local organisations and local Health Champions who reach out to under-served communities we share information about cancer signs and symptoms, how to reduce the risk of cancer, the screening opportunities available and where to go to seek medical advice. Our objective is to reduce health inequalities by ensuring everyone has access to the information they need to look after their health.
Through working closely with these communities we aim to contribute to the government’s goal that “by 2035, 75% of people diagnosed with cancer will survive 5 years or longer”.
For more information
You can find out more about Communities Against Cancer by joining a workshop
Follow this link to register your place
Listen to Sally Rickard’s full response to the government’s 10 Year Cancer Plan
Follow this link for the governments 10 Year Cancer Plan
