November is the awareness month of prostate cancer, a disease that affects over 3 million men around the world.
The year is coming to an end, but there are still many dates to remember and, what is more important, to support. November is the time for Novembro Azul campaign, a movement to raise awareness and funds for the treatment of prostate cancer.
42 men die every day from prostate cancer and nearly 3 million live with the disease. According to data from Instituto Nacional de Câncer (Inca), 68,220 new cases of prostate cancer have been diagnosed, as well as 15 thousand deaths from the disease per year in 2018 and 2019.
It’s the most frequent kind of cancer among Brazilian men, after skin cancer, usually occurring in older men – about 6 in 10 cases are diagnosed in patients over 65 years old. That is why it is crucial for men to understand the importance of the preventive exams.
But what is the origin of the date? It all goes back to 2003 in Australia, when friends Travis Garone and Luke Sattery had some beer at a local bar in Melbourne ad talked about the mustache making a comeback, because no one wore it anymore. Inspired by the mom of a friend who raised funds to fight breast cancer, they decided to do the same for prostate cancer. The rule: grow a mustache and take 10 dollars from the ones who also did. That year, 30 friends decided to support the cause and created Movember.
Those friends realized that growing a mustache was a conversation starter and they then talked about the cause and attracted more people to it. The following year, they founded the Movember Foundation and all the money raised by people who grew a mustache was used to fight prostate cancer. An online platform was developed so that people would post pictures of the evolution of their mustaches along November and raise funds from friends’ donation.
Since then, Movember has raised 6 million dollars for men’s health, mental health, suicide prevention, prostate and testicle cancer programs.
In Brazil, in 2008, Instituto Lado a Lado pela Vida pioneered in dealing with issues related to prostate cancer in Brazil, through a campaign named “Um Toque, Um Drible”. The goal was to promote a change of paradigms related to men seeing the doctor and to provide more information on the disease.
In 2012, inspired by Movember, the institute started dedicating the whole month of November to initiatives that focused on men’s health and created Novembro Azul. All over the country there are events, lectures and actions to remind of the importance of prevention and care regarding prostate cancer.
Center Norte supports this cause and reinforces the importance of prevention, preemptive exam and annual checkups for men. With information and awareness, it is possible to reduce the number of cases all over the country. Share your knowledge about the subject and support this cause.
