A "Cheeky Warning"...

Every day I look through the BBC news website and see if there is anything else that the TV news fails to report.  Yesterday, I found Jane Elliot's article on a 41 year old Chris Crawley who died of bowel cancer.  According to this report, bowel cancer diagnosed in people under the age of 30 has doubled in the past 10 years. Unfortunately, Chris Crawley was misdiagnosed and his bowel cancer had spread to his liver by the time it was diagnosed. As the BBC reported, his wife was angry that her husband's cancer was not picked up sooner and says there is ignorance among some medics who assume it is an older person's disease. "They are too ready to dismiss things in that region. Chris had clear symptoms of bowel cancer."

The 1st April 2010 sees the launch of Beating Bowel Cancer's "Bowel Cancer Awareness Month".  This charity provides support to bowel cancer patients and their families, raises awareness of symptoms and promotes early diagnosis.  What got me interested in this article was the fact they are launching a "Cheeky Warning" campaign and will be using social networking sites to spread their message.

Hilary Whittaker, chief executive explained to the BBC article that "Cheeky Warning" is a fun campaign with a very important message.  I think this will be a very good way to make young people aware of symptoms of bowel cancer and also should get them involved with fundraising too.  It does seem that more and more people before they go to a doctor, will check up on the many websites dedicated to health on what their symptoms could be the result of.  These websites and the ever growing number of Web 2.0 sites will probably result in a lot of people getting early detections and higher survival rates, which would be a fantastic outcome for this campaign.

I found other examples of how organisations have used their health campaigns to spread their message to certain audiences. Ariel Klein wrote about "8 Great Public Health Campaigns Using Social Media" which showed how government agencies were using Web 2.0.  The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (USA) has a YouTube Channel and created widgets, such as the Adult BMI Calculator.  This is a great way for people to check up on diseases such as Swine Flu and an interactive way with the use of widgets.

Even in remote areas of the world are using social media websites. "NGO International Forum for Rural Transport and Development have been working with an indigenous community in the northern Amazonas region of Peru" as reported in the Guardian Weekly.  Treatable diseases such as Diarrhoea are killing children in this area. It can take up to three days to get to the nearest clinic and transport is expensive.  This organisation has introduced them to modern technology and they are now connected to the outside world via Facebook and YouTube. They have access to mobile phones also, so they can contact clinics for help. This will make people like me and you become aware of their grievances and hardship, as well as them being able to contact the outside world for advice on illnesses.

IceNews has reported that the Finnish suicide rate had reduced through social networking.  Professor Jouko Lonnqvist (The National Institute for Health and Welfare) commented that the "decline is due to an improved understanding and knowledge of suicide symptoms and depression." He went onto explain that they used Facebook, MySpace and Twitter and felt that these websites made "People feel less on their own than before.  A person can always contact someone thanks to contemporary social networking." 

Jacquie L'Etang (2008) gave a definition of a public communication campaign,

"is that one agency, in this context [health] usually a government (publicly funded) or medical establishment or medically sponsored charity, seeks to change attitudes/behaviour which they believe to be damaging to the fabric of society, or to the health and welfare of citizens."

To get the word out to the people, these organisations have to use mass media and Web 2.0. The use of Web 2.0 as a way of communicating health issues can only be a good thing:
- Early detections of illnesses.
- Less people going to the Doctors for unnecessary visits.
- Reassurance for patients, families and for all involved by communicating with medics or indeed people who are going through the same thing.
- Easy way to gain medical information.
- To monitor findings in different diseases e.g. the spread of swine flu.
- It is a cheap way for PR practitioners to communicate with stakeholders.

I think that the Beating Bowel Cancer should be successful as they are targeting the youth and many young people under-50 are on Facebook and Twitter.  I wish them good luck with their "Cheeky Warning" campaign!

Here is a video from KruResearch about e-patients in the USA ... some interesting data.  Keep healthy folks and don't eat too much chocolate over Easter!!