Cancer Research UK will launch a three-year campaign in November 2005 to raise awareness of the risks and symptoms of mouth cancer, with funding from the Department of Health. The new campaign will focus on raising awareness of the early signs of mouth cancer and the importance of early detection.
Awareness drive targets mouth cancer
Mouth cancer is a growing problem in the UK. More people are being diagnosed with the disease each year and mortality is relatively high. The latest figures show that around 4,400 people get mouth cancer every year in the UK and nearly 1,600 die from the disease. In 2003 mouth cancer killed more people than cervical cancer.
Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK’s head of health information said: “Many people do not know enough about mouth cancer and its early signs for it to be detected in good time. We hope that improving awareness of the disease will raise survival rates.
“We also hope that improving people’s understanding of what causes mouth cancer will help them reduce their risk of getting the disease.”
The Department of Health is giving Cancer Research £100,000 a year for an initial three years to run the new campaign, which will rely in its first year on a PR campaign, to be launched during mouth cancer awareness week in November. This publicity will be based primarily on research findings.
