Decoding Cancer - The Facts on Skin Cancer

As part of our ongoing Decoding Cancer campaign, Craig Sinclair, Director of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborative Centre for UV Radiation and Head of Cancer Prevention at Cancer Council Victoria, Australia, visited the Irish Cancer Society recently to debunk some common myths about skin cancer and provide some expert advice when it comes to protecting your skin.

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world but thanks to information campaigns led by people like Craig, this number is now falling. In Ireland, cases of skin cancer are set to rise by two-thirds by 2040.

While in Ireland Craig spoke at an Irish Cancer Society-hosted meeting of key stakeholders in skin cancer prevention to highlight the steps Ireland can take to avoid a skin cancer epidemic in the coming years.

Craig said: “Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers. In Australia, we started innovative public awareness campaigns 30 years ago, and we are now seeing the results of these with a downward trend in melanoma cases in younger age groups. It is vitally important that a comprehensive and well-resourced plan is put in place by the Irish government, to tackle skin cancer in Ireland, or unfortunately, the significant human and financial burden of skin cancer will continue to increase.”

For more information on how to be SunSmart visit cancer.ie/sunsmart.