PREVENTION PROJECTS
This is how we are kicking cancer's ass
As a Cancer Council NSW Community Supporter, the donations raised from OUTRUN CANCER participants go to fund specific and targeted prevention campaigns.
To date we have raised close to 1 million dollars – a small drop in the ocean of funds required to tackle cancer but still a vital contribution that confirms our commitment not to give up. However big the challenge may be.
Why prevention
We believe prevention is the most sustainable approach to cancer. "To prevent" literally means "to keep something from happening", it's a change of status quo, a proactive investment on a cancer-free future. We don't just need more cures for cancers, we need more ways to eradicate it at the source. While a small proportion of cancers are caused by inherited genes, the vast majority are triggered by DNA damage that accumulates during a person's lifetime.
It is estimated that at least one third of all cancer cases are preventable, and that potentially more than half of all cancers could be avoided through a combination of healthy lifestyle and regular screening.
Source: Lifestyle risk factors and the primary prevention of cancer – Cancer Australia
Projects we are funding
Funding
HEALTHY LUNCHBOX 2.0
CCNSW 2019-23 strategy aims to improve cancer outcomes for priority populations including culturally and linguistically diverse communities and lower socio-economic communities.
A suggestion from the NSW Ministry of Health and some Local Health Districts has been that the Healthy Lunchbox Website would benefit from enhanced functionality and content that is appropriate for low-literacy and lower socio-economic groups by:
- Development of more visual content such as videos
- New healthy recipes and videos for limited incomes
- Identifying personalisation features allowing users to access information specific to their needs, for example building and saving lunch boxes for multiple children, weekly planners etc.
- An online Healthy Lunch Box Presentation for schools and health professionals
Funding
JUNK FOOD MARKETING
Our Kids Our Call is a campaign led by Cancer Council's CanAct Community to stop junk food advertisers targeting our kids with manipulative advertising that encourages unhealthy eating habits and sets them up for a lifetime of poor health.
1 in every 4 Australian children are overweight or obese and a high proportion will go on to become overweight adults, increasing their risk of 11 different types of cancer.
Right now, the Government is letting junk food companies decide whether or not their advertising targets children. This allows manipulative tactics to be used on our kids selling them on highly processed and fast food. It's time to stop junk food advertisers in their tracks and OUTRUN CANCER committed the support for the first 3 years.
Funding
HEALTHY LUNCHBOX
Eating the right amount of fruit and vegetables is a proven way to prevent cancer. Still, latest stats show that only 5% of Aussie kids are eating the right amount of fruit and veg.
Research also shows that one of the biggest barriers to eating enough fruit and veg is parents not being aware of how much they should be eating, and most parents tell us they don't have enough fruit and veg ideas that their kids love.
The Healthy lunch box website, is an interactive tool for parents to use with their children to plan and pack a healthy lunch box. OUTRUN CANCER has funded the build of the website and initial content. The website has been very successful to date and further investment by Cancer Council and OUTRUN CANCER is expected beyond 2019.
Funding
CLEAR STUDY DATA ANALYSIS
Cancer Council's CLEAR study recruited people with cancer, and where possible, their partners to take part in a ground-breaking research project. The CLEAR study compiled the most comprehensive information to date on the lifestyle and genetic factors that influence cancer in the NSW community. Over 10,000 people have participated in the study, providing a rich source of data and blood samples for analysis.
OUTRUN CANCER has funded a PhD student for 4 years to use this data to further investigate the links between exercise, body mass index, diet and cancer.
The results have been published in several medical journals and our researcher presented them to many conferences around the world.
Funding
BOWEL CANCER EARLY SCREENING
Awareness of bowel cancer in the community is very low at only 63%. Many people don't understand how easy it is to protect themselves from bowel cancer. Bowel cancer starts as polyps – these develop in the colon and take 5-15 years to become cancer. These polyps can bleed and an FOBT kit tests for traces of blood in the stool.
The Gut Foundation and the UNSW Regional Medical school, ran a project to forecast how many lives will be saved when GPs include bowel cancer screening as regular testing.
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