The Australian Government has launched a new phase in its National Skin Cancer Awareness Campaign. This campaign seeks to prevent skin cancer by strongly encouraging all Australians to adopt a lifetime of multiple skin protection behaviours early in life.
The 13-24 year age group is the primary target audience for the campaign because it is the group that has been least likely to use adequate protection and has the highest frequency of sunburn.
Melanoma, the most life-threatening skin cancer, is the most common cancer in the 15-24 year age group with 213 new cases in 2003. Melanoma is the tenth most common cause of cancer death overall in Australia, with a total of 1,146 deaths (382 females and 764 males) in 2003.
The Campaign especially aims to make young people aware of five effective ways to protect themselves from the sun:
- seek shade
- wear sun-protective clothing that covers as much of your body as possible
- put on a broad brimmed hat that shades your face, neck and ears
- wear wrap-around sunglasses
- apply SPF30+ broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen every two hours
For information on the skin cancer campaign, including factsheets and campaign materials, go to http://www.skincancer.gov.au
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