WA Cancer Conference – Urgent call for national campaigns

A series of national prevention campaigns is urgently needed to address the escalating burden of lifestyle-related cancers in the Australian community.

The Cancer Foundation of WA today hosted the 3rd annual conference at the Hyatt Regency where many of Australia’s cancer professionals spoke.

Professor David Hill, one of Australia’s foremost authorities on cancer control strategies said there is a need to implement programs to improve nutrition, increase physical activity and reduce sun exposure as soon as possible to address the rise in lifestyle-related cancers.

‘Projections show that by 2016 cancer will be responsible for 39% of all premature deaths in males and 41% in females. This is an unacceptable toll especially when we know there are things that can be done to prevent some of the most common cancers’, Professor Hill said.

‘What Australians need is less obesity, excess alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, intentional sun exposure and fatty foods. We need a better overall diet, including more vegetables and fruit and more physical activity’.

Professor Hill cited the success of the national tobacco campaign and the SunSmart campaign in Victoria as examples of the benefits that can be achieved through public health strategies.

‘In the first 12 months of the national tobacco campaign there was a significant reduction in the number of people smoking in Australia – around 2%. That may not sound like much but it equates to 190,000 fewer smokers’, he said.

‘The economic benefits of the program were enormous. It cost $9million to develop and run the campaign but it saved $24million in health care costs, not to mention the lives that have been saved by people giving up smoking.’

Professor Hill said that in just tem years, the Victorian SunSmart campaign had seen a 60% decrease in the likelihood of people getting sunburn. The frequency of sunburn is related to the development of melanoma and other types of skin cancer.

‘As well as a change in social norms, which has seen the approval and desirability of a tan significantly reduced, we are also starting to see a decrease in skin cancer prevalence and melanoma.’

This year around 82,000 Australians will be diagnosed with serious cancer and 35,000 will lose their life to the disease. There are approximately 190,000 people living with cancer (having had treatment in the last five years) in Australia.

‘Cancer prevention and health promotion strategies are a terrific investment for the Australian community because they save vast amounts in health costs. Mass-media campaigns are proven to work when they are supported by services, structural and policy change,’ Professor Hill said.

‘If the current trends continue, Australia faces a massive health care burden because of preventable disease. The benefits of prevention programs kick in after around ten years so it makes sense to start now so we can save future generations from the impact of cancer.’

(Source: Cancer Foundation of WA)