Programmes We Fund

Funds raised by the Movember community are enabling The Prostate Cancer Charity to carry out a number of key programmes that are making a real difference to the lives of men and their families affected by prostate cancer. This is significant, when you consider one man in this country dies of prostate cancer EVERY HOUR, of every day, more than 10,000 every year. All cancer diagnoses are life-changing. Prostate cancer is complicated as men do not always display symptoms and can be faced with a complex range of treatment options. This means that clear information is critical.

Thanks to the efforts of over 100,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, the charity has been able to give more people more support in 2010 and reach towards its vision of fighting prostate cancer on every front - through research, support, information and campaigning.



Examples of Movember Funded Programmes

Programme: Specialist Cancer Nurses on a dedicated Helpline (0800 074 8383)
Movember funds help provide trained specialist nurses available to talk to anyone newly diagnosed, affected or living with prostate cancer. This heavily utilised National Helpline is a vital service and is one of the significant support aspects of The Prostate Cancer Charity and Movember funds. These nurses are able to give one-to-one support for men dealing with complex questions and difficult issues.





Programme: Research
As a direct result of Movember funding The Prostate Cancer Charity have been able to invest in 14 NEW research projects, the highest number ever. Importantly, these research projects cover the whole prostate cancer journey: prevention, diagnosis, treatment, awareness and quality of life.

Biophysicist and Clinical Researcher, Dmitry Pshezhetskiy
Dmitry, based at Imperial College London, is one of a number of researchers working with Movember funding through The Prostate Cancer Charity, who are focused on better understanding the causes of prostate cancer and improving diagnostic tools and treatments.

The injection of support from Movember meant that Dmitry and his team could pursue various lines of research and investigate ways to prevent cancer spreading to the bones.

The first project generated a series of outcomes, which will now be explored further, including a molecular therapy which could mean men have lower doses of chemotherapy.



Programme: Prostate Cancer Master Class, our Health Professional Education Programme

We have been able to hold a national learning event, the Prostate Cancer Masterclass in partnership with Kings College. We were oversubscribed and the event proved very popular with GPs, Nurses, and specialists. We have since turned the programme into an online learning resource on our new website.

The Charity is now further developing its education programme for thousands of specialists to access across the UK and will help improve care and support once diagnosed.




Programme : Movember funds for Men’s Health Materials
We ensure that men are able to easily access our information in a range of different formats, and GPs are steadily increasing the use and endorsement of our materials. Last year, we provided over 330,000 pieces of prostate cancer information to people – purely by request. We produced seven new publications across a range of essential topics. Our publications are recognised and have been certified by The Information Standard as a producer of quality and reliable health information. Access to and provision of this information is vitally important to the newly diagnosed or recently treated and funding from Movember allows The Prostate Cancer Charity to continue to produce these high-quality resources and distribute them across the country.





Programme: Community of Champions

To further our work in the African Caribbean community we established our network of Community Champions following research showing us that the most effective way to communicate with this typically hard-to-reach group of men is through community, grass roots involvement.

Through this initiative we can arrange support using champion volunteers with personal experiences of prostate cancer and speak with men in their local environment.



Programme: Survivorship and Support ‘Couples’ project
To understand the psycho-social impact of prostate cancer, this informative project delved into the effects on the men themselves, and also the ‘other’ person in their lives. From wives to priests to gay partnerships, to fathers daughters and sons, this is a highly useful piece of work that has since been turned into a training and support resource via DVD and online.