LOCAL MP URGES GREATER PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS
March 14, 2008 12:57 PM
Nick Harvey, MP for North Devon, this week attended an event hosted by the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action to hear about their campaign to improve awareness and tackle the disease.
Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer in men, with nearly 35,000 men in the UK diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. However the disease is complex and poses unique challenges. The number of deaths as a result of the disease is high with 10,000 men dying from it every year. This equates to at least one death every hour. The Prostate Cancer Charter for Action's main objective is to see this figure reduced and the care and information for those men who develop it improved.
Commenting on the campaign, local MP Nick Harvey said:
"I was surprised to discover that such a high number of men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.
Equally staggering is the lack of awareness of prostate cancer which means that almost 40% of men are diagnosed after the cancer has already spread.
I should like to see to it that all men in North Devon are made aware of the potentially fatal implications of late diagnosis of the disease."
Notes to editors:
Nick Harvey MP has sent a letter to the Director of Public Health for NHS Devon PCT regarding prostate cancer, requesting information on what was being done in North Devon to combat prostate cancer and increase awareness and the quality of information available.
Further Information:
• Nearly 4 in 10 men are diagnosed with cancer which has already spread
• A recent ICM poll for The Prostrate Cancer Charity found that around 70% of adults in the UK do not know what the prostate gland does and the crucial role it plays in a man's sexual function.
• Only 58% of GPs are aware of the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme.
• Men of African descent are more prone to the disease and are three times more likely to be diagnosed than their white counterparts.
Symptoms:
• Men with early prostate cancer are unlikely to have any symptoms
• Symptoms only occur when the cancer is large enough to put pressure on the urethra or disturb bladder function.
• Many older men have enlargement of the prostate due to non-cancerous benign prostate hypertrophy
Details of the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action's work can be found on their website: http://www.prostatecharter.org.uk/
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