Thread by @vimalrajslm

#November2022 #November12 #WorldPneumoniaDay #LungCancerAwarenessMonth #LungCancerScreeningDay
#Cigarettesmoking

This 'long' thread is about-

"Lung Cancer Awareness month- Nov"
"World Pneumonia Day- Nov12"
"National Lung Cancer Screening Day- USA: Nov12"
(1/21)

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is taking the opportunity this November, Lung Cancer Awareness Month, to highlight the burden and principal risk factors of lung cancer around the world.
1.8 million (18 lakh) people died in 2020 due to this cancer (2/21)

This count is almost double the number of deaths caused by the 2nd most common cause of cancer deaths - colorectal cancer!!

Tobacco smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer

Smoking in public places exposes those who are not interested in smoking .. (3/21)

. . to the harmful effects of tobacco.

Smoking at home exposes your partner, children, elderly and the pets & puts them at risk of developing >12 different type of cancers including the deadliest-lung cancer and many other respiratory ailments including #COPD
(4/21)

#SmokingCessation has the greatest capacity to alter the natural history of COPD!! (By the way, COPD is the World's 3rd most common cause of death)
Back to lung cancer..
USA is following the concept of screening the vulnerable people for lung cancer (Low Dose CT for Lungs)(5/21)

In this awareness month, they have chosen today - Nov12 as the National lung cancer screening day, to encourage lung cancer screening today among the needy.
Resource limited nations are far from having such an initiative ..
but this a welcome step forward (6/21)

Awareness creation can be done globally, on the ill-effects of tobacco(see the end of thread)
If there is only one information a smoker needs to know about quitting tobacco is that, the chances of 'quitting' are very high if they plan it with a doctor trained in it --> (7/21)

that will be a #pulmonologist #psychiatrist #oncologist #familyphysician or a #generalphysician. It wont be a difficult task to find that doctor in your city - or you can just ask your family doctor. They will refer you, if they aren't trained. (8/21)

Pneumonia:
25 lakh (2.5 million) people died in 2019 due to pneumonia - 670,000 among them are children - this is the most common cause of death (among infectious diseases) among adults and children.
Stop Pneumonia Initiative commemorates World Pneumonia Day (9/21)

every year since 2009. I don't find any "Yearly Theme" they work on, giving way to many false interpretations among the public, incl. many hospitals on the 'Theme for the Year 2022'. Actually, they can consider publicizing the theme, if they have any, in a better way. (10/21)

On a positive note, they have a big list of things planned to raise awareness on pneumonia and the steps needed to be taken by the governments to mitigate the morbidity & mortality (details available at the end of this thread) (11/21)

1. Clean air
2. Nutritious food
3. Full vaccination
4. Fast diagnosis
5. Affordable healthcare
These are the five demands they want us to make- to our respective governments, to protect the people from pneumonia
#Pneumolight is a 5-year campaign (2020-2024) highlighting (12/21)

the slogan "Pneumonia affects Everyone".

This year, almost 300 iconic landmarks around the world will be lit up "blue" -shining a blue spotlight on pneumonia - world's most common cause of death among adults and children (among the infectious diseases). (13/21)

Only issue is that they did not provide the list of those "iconic monuments" - few are iconic for the natives of the land- and not for others; so the organizers need not take-it-for-granted for the public to know (if they want a greater reach by every passing year) and ..(14/21)

share the list in their website (because, we showing up at an iconic monument of our choice is not the issue, but the owners/managers of the monument should have lit them up "blue"!)
#WorldCOPDDay #WorldAsthmaDay
@GOLD_COPD @ginasthma
The organizers can take a cue from (15/21)

the way COPD and Asthma Days are commemorated by the above two organizations and implement them for future Pneumonia day commemorations.

Let me make it clear: This is in no way to deride Pneumonia Day.

To cite an eg., if I have to show my involvement in COPD/Asthma Day (16/21)

campaigns by GOLD/GINA, I (+/- my institute) shall conduct a program (as per my financial capacity; guidance is also available in their website) and post it online in any social media platform using the appropriate hashtag. Simple. No need to search for any monument. (17/21)

In that way, public & medical fraternity's 'integrated involvement' can be augmented. I may be wrong. But, this is my humble opinion.
I am open for comments.

The relevant links:

1. Lung cancer awareness month:
iarc.who.int/news-events/lu…

(18/21)

2. National (USA) Lung Cancer Screening Day:
nlcrt.org/lung-cancer-sc…

3. World Pneumonia Day:
stoppneumonia.org/latest/world-p…

4. Pneumolight campaign:
- stoppneumonia.org/wp-content/upl…

-echalliance.com/pneumolight-20…

-

-

(19/21)

To know about COPD:
goldcopd.org

Asthma:
ginasthma.org

Last, but not the least, WHO and UNICEF can 'certainly' pitch-in, given the fact that Pneumonia is the world's deadliest (infectious) killer disease among both adults and children. (20/21)

Because, I find their websites near-empty on such resources.

#WorldHealthOrganization #UNICEF #MedTwitter

End of the thread (21/21).

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