Campaigns

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco is being observed by MCCS since 1990 on 31st May every year as part of the programme of WHO's World NO Tobacco Day. Rallies, Awareness Classes for De-Addiction, Competition for school and college students, Mass Run, Tug of War competition etc are undertaken. As part of the programme MCCS have established Anti- Tobacco cells in schools and colleges to enlighten the students against the tobacco menace and persuade their parents through them to quit smoking. MCCS got very good results and could turn the premises of educational institutions tobacco free.

Anti Tobacco Activity

The Society persuaded various Government agencies and Parliamentarians to formulate stringent laws to ban the use of tobacco. After the judicial pronouncements the situation has changed and now the organization is persuading the authorities to implement the smoking ban in totto.

• Anti Tobacco clubs organised in schools and colleges and under these clubs students were made aware of the hazards of the use of tobacco and thereafter persuaded to quit tobacco use, if any.
• In the village level cancer control programme – Kannur District Cancer Control Programme (KDCCP) Anti Tobacco activities were given major thrust. In the house to house person to person awareness activity undertaken as part of the KDCCP, Anti Tobacco activity is the main part. Each family member is advised not to start tobacco use and those who have the habit are advised to quit the same. The above activity has already been undertaken in 84 Grama Panchayaths and 5 Municipalities covering 2.4 Million Population.
• Our efforts have been result oriented and as per the resurvey conducted by us in many of the Panchayaths we could see that use of tobacco has came down by 30 to 40 percentages.

National Cancer Day

The National Cancer Awareness Day is observed in India on the 7th of November. Since independence health services have come a long way in alleviation of suffering by public due to various ailments. Cancer can be controlled if diagnosed early and in time. But it is a fact that patients continue to come in advanced stages when the treatment is difficult. Early detection and awareness can help in the treatment of the disease. Malabar Cancer Care Society has been observing National Cancer Day since 2002 with various programmes and activities. The Day was observed with Cancer control awareness and programmes in the village level. Anti-tobacco activities among the students were also undertaken. Sticker and poster campaign were also vigorously carried out to reduce the hazards of tobacco use. Rallies involving Students, Volunteers, Doctors etc. were organized in the town as part of the day.

Palliative Day

Palliative care is a form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of disease symptoms, rather than striving to halt, delay, or reverse progression of the disease itself or provide a cure. The goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and to improve quality of life for people facing serious, complex illnesses. While Palliative care may seem to offer an incredibly broad range of services, the goals of Palliative treatment are extremely concrete: relief from suffering, treatment of pain and other distressing symptoms, psychological and spiritual care, a support system to help the individual live as actively as possible, and a support system to sustain and rehabilitate the individual's family.

International AIDS Day

In 1988, the General Assembly expressed deep concern at the pandemic proportions of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Noting that the World Health Organization had declared 1 December as World AIDS Day, the Assembly stressed the importance of observing that occasion (resolution 43/15). Today, over 41 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases is one of the Millennium Development Goals which all 191 United Nations Member States have pledged to meet by the year 2015.

" The World AIDS Campaign (WAC) has chosen as its theme from 2005 to 2010: “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising funds, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice, and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. Around 95% of people with HIV and AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world. Every 24 hours, an estimated 6,800 people are infected with HIV (nearly 50 every minute!) and more than 1 million contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Currently, an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV, and in Sub-Saharan Africa—the region hit hardest by the pandemic—the majority of 15-24 year-olds living with HIV is female. The need for quality HIV, AIDS, and STI services are therefore more important than ever. Current health care systems in most of the developing world are struggling to provide even the most basic health services. While HIV treatment is becoming more widely available in the developed world, it still eludes most people living in the world’s poorest communities. In these places, not only is medication often unavailable, but health care providers are not adequately trained to help patients prevent HIV/STIs or treat or counsel patients who are living with HIV or AIDS. Additionally, health workers often discriminate against people living with HIV and perpetuate the stigma surrounding HIV in their workplaces and communities.

AIDS control Project

Under NACP III programme of Govt. of India various Non-Governmental Organizations were subjected to screening process as per the international standards for taking up the targeted intervention project activities aiming to control HIV/AIDS in a systematic way among the migrated workers. Malabar Cancer Care Society, Kannur is one among the few organizations that came out successful in the process to undertake the above activities in Kerala and entrusted with the project implementation among the Migrant workers in Kannur town and nearby Panchayaths The project named as Suraksha is targeting 5000 migrant workers including Hotel workers for comprehensive management and control to prevent AIDS and also to provide total rehabilitation to those affected with HIV/AIDS.

The Society has taken the challenge for implementing the project as envisaged in NACP III of Govt. of India. Evaluation recently conducted by expert external evaluators has given excellent opinion regarding the conduct of the project and MCCS was awarded A grade.