Australian Government funded Cancer Council campaign drives 93,000 Australians to do the life saving test
Talking about poo might sometimes be taboo but Cancer Council is continuing its mission to beat the stigma and encourage more Australians to complete their bowel screening test with results from an Australian Government funded Cancer Council campaign showing its lifesaving effect.
The results have now, showed the campaign was responsible for driving a whopping 93,000 Australians to complete the bowel screening test. The additional completed tests equate to 860 cancers being prevented and 470 lives saved over the next 50 years.
Tanya Buchanan, CEO of Cancer Council Australia said, “Cancer Council is thrilled with the results of the 2019 campaign. Not only will we save 470 lives, we will also save the health care system over $46 million in costs over the next 50 years. For a $9 million campaign, this is huge return on investment of over $6 for every dollar spent and means that even more money can be spent on preventative health measures like ongoing campaigns to drive up bowel cancer screening participation.”
The Australian government’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Program delivers screening tests to eligible Australians aged 50-74. The test, sent every two years, is completed from home and returned via the post.
The test detects the presence of blood in the poo and is designed to detect cancer early, often before symptoms arise. Bowel cancer is most prevalent in people after the age of 50 and if detected early, nearly 90% of cases can be successfully treated.
Evidence shows that if we can increase participation from 4 in 10 to 6 in 10, 84,000 lives will be saved by 2040.
Ms Buchanan explained, “Achieving behaviour change in public health requires campaigns to effectively address the barriers to screening and provide emotive motivation to encourage people to take action. This campaign tapped into these factors to ensure we could effectively create this behaviour change that led to the increase in people completing their bowel screening test.”
Professor Jon Emery explained “GPs can also play an important part in talking to patients about the screening test and encouraging them to do the test. Throughout the 2019 campaign we encouraged GPs to do just that and we know it was an important motivator in influencing people to participate.”
The 2019 campaign results announcement comes alongside new Australian Government funding for an ongoing Cancer Council campaign to get more people participating in bowel screening.
Ms Buchanan added, “Cancer Council is very pleased to be working with the Australian Government to get more people participating in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and we hope the continued awareness from another campaign will help us in our mutual goal to achieve a cancer free future.”
About the campaign
The Australian Government has funded Cancer Council to execute a National Bowel cancer Screening communications Campaign. Campaign planning is currently underway with the activity to include paid, owned and earned components targeting all eligible Australians aged 50-74, as well as specific components for priority audiences including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, culturally diverse groups, as well as people aged 50-59 who are all less likely to screen.
Source: Cancer Council. See Cancer Council’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
