Scottish charity attends global cancer forum

24 March, 2016 / infocus
 

Five trustees from Scottish dental charity Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer attended the inaugural Global Cancer Forum in New York recently.

The event, which was held at the Kimmel Centre at New York University, saw 200 delegates from 33 countries come together to work on reducing the global oral cancer burden which claims the lives of 150 000 people each year.

The five trustees who attended the forum were convenor Niall Mc Goldrick, Dental Core Trainee 2, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital; secretary Stephanie Sammut, Consultant Oral Surgeon, Dundee Dental Hospital; treasurer Ewan MacKessack-Leitch, General Dental Practitioner, Fife; research lead Orna Ni Choileain, Dental Core Trainee 2, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Forth Valley Royal; and policy advisor Professor Victor Lopes, Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon, Edinburgh Dental Institute.

Two of the trustees of the Scottish charity, Niall and Orna, submitted poster presentations at the forum detailing the findings from the Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer public awareness and empowerment campaigns delivered in Edinburgh and Dundee. These were well received and garnered interest from delegates of various backgrounds and nationality.

The two day forum covered topics designed to “highlight gaps and innovations in prevention, patient care, technology, and services across the oral cancer continuum” with the aim of instigating changes to turn the tide on oral cancer. The programme included sessions of strong resonance to the charity’s work including: assessing the current global disease profile; the efficacy of oral cancer screening and the role of public policy and not-for-profit organisations.

Ewan said: “The take home message for the team was the importance of advocacy to politicians, health authorities and health professionals to make mouth cancer prevention, detection and early referral a priority. The next steps for the charity – which has already had success in promoting mouth cancer awareness in Scotland – will aim to meet these challenges and report back to the next GOCF provisionally scheduled for two years’ time.”

As a charity, Let’s Talk About Mouth Cancer relies on donations and sponsorship. If you would like to know more about the campaign or if you would like to help raise money for the charity please visit www.letstalkaboutmouthcancer.co.uk or e-mail letstalkaboutmouthcancer@gmail.com

Tags: Let's Talk About Mouth Cancer / Mouth Cancer

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