A new campaign is putting a spotlight on bowel cancer screening rates in LGBTQ communities across NSW.
Launched by ACON in partnership with the Cancer Institute NSW, Get Your Kit Together aims to raise awareness about bowel cancer and encourage more people in LGBTQ communities to do the test when it arrives.
Bowel cancer screening can save lives, but people reported feeling that a lack of LGBTQ representation in mainstream cancer screening and prevention campaigns made it less relevant and engaging.
Chief Cancer Officer and CEO of the Cancer Institute NSW, Professor David Currow, says partnering with community organisations like ACON is key to reaching communities that are under screened.
“Cancer knows no boundaries and everyone, no matter who they are and how they identify, needs to know how they can reduce the risk of cancer and detect it as early as possible,” Professor Currow says.
“That’s why it’s important we continue to partner with organisations like with ACON in truly innovative ways, as they have trusted relationships and a strong track record of engaging with LGBTQ communities in specific ways targeted to their needs.”
ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill says the campaign responds to the ongoing need to raise awareness about bowel cancer risks and increase screening rates among LGBTQ people.
“As one of the most common forms of cancer, many people in our communities will have personally experienced bowel cancer or have had someone close to them impacted by it.
“Get Your Kit Together aims to bring awareness to the screening process in a light-hearted and humourous way, inspire conversations and encourage people to test,” Parkhill says.
“Despite being a community that on the whole is very aware of bowel cancer screening programs, many LGBTQ people between the ages of 50 and 74 have never used, or only used some of the testing kits they had received.
How to get your kit together
The new campaign is inspired by Jazzercise clips of the 1980s, with the help of a range of LGBTQ community identities.
It features Indigenous drag icon Nova Gina, Trans Pride Australia co-founder Peta Friend, comedian Denise Hanlon and broadcaster Michael El-Bacha.
It will demystify the self-sampling process, which is done with a home test kit sent to all eligible Australians aged of 50–74 by the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
“Get Your Kit Together celebrates our amazing and incredibly diverse communities in NSW and highlights the need for safe and inclusive campaigns for people in our communities, which can help them to come together and support each other,” Parkhill says.
Why is bowel cancer screening so important?
Almost 5,800 people will be diagnosed with bowel cancer this year in NSW, but if detected early it can be successfully treated in more than 90 per cent of cases.
The bowel cancer screening test is a clean, easy and free test that can find the signs of bowel cancer before any symptoms develop. In some cases it can even prevent bowel cancer.
All eligible people will receive a free bowel cancer screening kit in the mail every two years between ages 50–74, but more people in NSW need to do the test.
Learn more about bowel cancer and bowel cancer screening in NSW.
Source: Cancer Institute NSW
