At the annual meeting of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation (CRPF) in Washington, D.C., the International Digestive Cancer Alliance (IDCA) and the CRPF designated March, 2003, 'Worldwide Digestive Cancer Awareness Month'. They were joined in this action by IDCA Founder Organizations OMGE, OMED, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), the United European Gastroenterology Federation (UEGF) and the European Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE).
IDCA Founding Organization representatives attending the event included Drs. Sidney Winawer (IDCA & OMGE), Paul Rozen (OMED), Bernard Levin and Robert Smith (UICC) and Carolyn Aldigé of the CRPF, which was known formerly as the Cancer Research Foundation of America and is also Founding Organization of the IDCA.
National Colorectal Cancer Months have been highly successful in the US, Germany and Italy, providing a focus for intense consciousness-raising activities around a disease that accounts for the highest annual incidence of all digestive cancers worldwide (950,000 new cases yearly). A startlingly original campaign dubbed the Colossal Colon Tour is currently underway in the United States (see www.preventcancer.org).
For its part, the Worldwide Digestive Cancer Month seeks to stimulate awareness of liver, esophagus, stomach, and pancreas cancer as well as colorectal cancer across all countries, which in turn can focus on whatever form of digestive cancer has the highest incidence and mortality nationwide. IDCA plans partnerships with national organizations that are members of IDCA as well as with the Founding Organizations and with WHO, which has expressed a strong interest in this initiative. To date, leaders from approximately 50 countries have joined forces with IDCA.
'Colossal Colon' tours US
