Breaking Taboos in Urology Awareness Month
This September marks the fifth annual Urology Awareness Month, an opportunity for urologists, researchers, GPs, patients, and urology advocates to raise awareness of and speak openly about urology disease. In doing so, they can help to break the taboos that so often blight urology patients.
Set up by The Urology Foundation (TUF) in 2014, Urology Awareness Month (UAM) aims to encourage the public to actively take care of their urology health by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of urology disease, breaking down stigmas and raising money for the fight against urology disease.
Getting involved
There are multiple ways to support this campaign. Firstly, you can get in touch with us for leaflets and posters for your clinics. If you have a patient with an experience of urology disease that you think others would benefit from hearing, you can get in touch with TUF and we can help to get that message out.
We are also calling on people to take part in the Big 5 Challenge. If just 120 people commit to raising £500 each, that would allow TUF to fund one extra research project in 2019. So often our research projects go on to provide big breakthroughs in urology through new treatments and diagnostic tools. We are funded entirely by our supporters across the country, so the more people that get involved, the more research that can be funded. You can find out more about the Big 5 Challenge on our website.
Make sure you can share your support for the breaking down of taboos or the importance of knowing the signs of urology disease by using the hashtag #urologyawareness. You could also encourage the hospital you work at to use the same hashtag.
In 2017, TUF reached millions of people throughout UAM. TUF radio interviews were heard by an estimated 6 million people, a urology-themed pull out was distributed to nearly 1 million Guardian readers, and TUF featured on TV through London Live and Sky’s Chrissy B Show. This year is set to be even better and we thank you for your support.
A month for all of urology
Urology Awareness Month is about breaking taboos and raising awareness of all urology diseases, not just cancers. So, whatever your area of expertise is, UAM is an opportunity to speak up and encourage the nation to actively take care of their urology health.
Louise de Winter, CEO of TUF
This is a good initiative. Urology is still a Cinderella specialty compared with say cardiology and the general public continues to confuse urology with neurology. Raising awareness of urological conditions, which are almost all better dealt with early as opposed to later, is in all of our patients interest. Please do join in and help The Urology Foundation (TUF) spread the word.