WHO experts estimate that by choosing the right lifestyle we can reduce the risk of a serious health crisis by 50%. A well-thought-out diet, regular physical activity, performing recommended tests, screening tests, taking advantage of the benefit of vaccinations, taking care of the right balance of work and rest - this is a chance for a better, fulfilled life. The more often we remind ourselves of this, the more likely we are to be heard. For years, the Polish Coalition of Oncology Patients and experts of the Medical Rationale of State have been appealing in the public space for attentiveness to health challenges to decision-makers, but also to each of us. On the 28th of September, this voice will be amplified during the debate and conference "YES to family health" initiating a public campaign with the same slogan.

Agata Kornhauser-Duda, the First Lady gave these activities honorary patronage in recognition of the value of preventing health crises among Poles.

The ambassador of the message about the necessary co-responsibility of each of us for our own condition agreed to become this year's Miss Polonia - Ewa Jakubiec, a certified nurse, a student of the Faculty of Public Health at the University of Wroclaw, a person who remains in dialogue with women in the simplest activities to prevent the development of cancer. Laura Breszka, a popular television, theater and dubbing actress, has also become an ambassador of the campaign.

The appeal to children to be physically active and reach for healthy food was promised to be supported by ski jumping champion Piotr Zyla with his voice, as well as in the subsequent stages of the campaign by the most beautiful Polish women of previous years, whose mission is to teach healthy food and make physical activity - fun, not a school compulsion. We plan to present these messages in video form systematically in schools. We hope that soon it will be an introduction to the subject - "an hour for health", the introduction of which in schools is one of the main demands of the Medical Rationale of State.

- During thematic expert-system debates, members of the Campaign's Scientific Council will present humanistic, medical and economic rationales that reinforce the message of the urgent need to be faster than the disease. The voice of young people who attract public attention, arousing sympathy and admiration, is an opportunity for communicative success especially in dialogue with children, the initiators of the Campaign emphasize: Krystyna Wechmann, president of the Polish Coalition of Oncology Patients, and Anna Jasinska, spokesperson for the Medical Rationale.

They will serve as a reminder to test for HCV, which we can effectively deal with when we know it is there. Meanwhile, its overlooked presence is life-threatening. So it's worth remembering when we think about our health security. Systemic support for the determination to defeat this threat would be the decision to create a National HCV Elimination Plan. For many years, infectious disease specialists, hepatologists, oncologists and PCPs have been calling for this, reminding us that reaching carriers of the virus will save at least 3,000 Poles each year from developing hepatocellular carcinoma.

Another boon of medicine, which, after years of effort, we now have access to, is vaccination for another oncogenic virus - HPV. The possibility of protecting girls primarily from cervical cancer, and boys from cancers of the head and neck area and other locations, is an important reason to join forces for their safety. There is also the possibility of HPV testing, which is proving to be very effective in detecting advanced precancerous conditions of the cervix.

With the support of medical authorities and well-known and socially sympathetic figures, we will remind the public that timely performance of tests can determine the length and quality of our lives. We will also draw attention to the tremendous advances in medicine resulting in the fact that we can already control cancer to the extent that it is treated as a chronic disease rather than a sentence. Knowing that we can reduce the risk of the disease with lifestyle choices, but also that we know how to treat cancer, that we are increasingly able to prevent its recurrence, significantly delay it and intervene also in the later stages of the disease, is a good reason to overcome fear and be in touch with the doctor.

The fact that Polish children are gaining weight faster than their peers in the European Union is, in turn, a reason to mobilize all forces to effectively prevent obesity, which is a gateway to 200 life-threatening diseases.

- Recognizing that issues as fundamental as the health security of our society require reliable cooperation across professional, philosophical, or political divides, we invite everyone who agrees to say - YES to family health - to a conversation about joining forces and concrete cooperation.

Source: Press Mat.