November is a month traditionally devoted to men’s health issues.
Prostate cancer caused the deaths of 824 Croats in 2015, which was an increase of ten percent compared to 2014. Dr Egidio Čepulić, head of the Croatian Society of Patients with Prostate Cancer, noted that this was the second most common type of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in Croatia. He described the figures as devastating, pointing out that the disease can be cured if diagnosed at an early stage, reports 24sata.hr on November 7, 2017.
For several years, November has been known as Movember, a month in which men grow a moustache to emphasise the importance of men’s health and preventive examinations, and primarily to raise awareness about prostate cancer. This type of cancer often remains undiagnosed due to poor awareness, although it can be cured if detected in time.
In Croatia, about 1,800 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually, with approximately 800 men dying from the illness. “The figure of 800 deaths per year is very worrisome because in the West fewer people die of cancer. In Croatia, 45 percent of men who get sick die from the disease, while the latest information from the American Health Institute says that 95 percent of patients survived at least five years after the diagnosis. This means that it is essential to detect cancer in the initial stage of the disease,” said Čepulić adding that the City of Zagreb and the Public Health School “Andrija Štampar” had decided to launch an awareness campaign.
“In Croatia, every day more than two men die of prostate cancer. This is a significant public health problem, and it is imperative to detect it early because we can have excellent results,” said the head of the Urology Department of the Clinical Hospital Centre in Zagreb Željko Kaštelan.
The Movember campaign first started in Adelaide in 1999, when a group of men decided to grow moustaches during November to raise awareness. In 2004, 30 men from Melbourne joined them and later founded the Movember Foundation. They have raised 174 million dollars to date, and the initiative has spread throughout the world. In 2012, the drive was joined by 1.1 million men who raised 95 million dollars.
In Croatia, the drive is supported by stand-up comedian Ivan Šarić, actor Filip Juričić and many others. The initiative has also received a boost from the Zagreb Zoo, whose employees decided to draw public’s attention to the proud owners of longest and largest moustaches among animals.
Translated from 24sata.hr.
