Social stigma is a main barrier to access services

Quite a good number of community members where I have been supporting as a coordinator of Reading Cancer Champoins Group Network are suffering much for not being sharing out their cancer sign and sympotoms to their close family members even with their mums this is because they think that it was supposed to have this health condition to me which I had got it from my previous life and I should not share thsi to others. And, cancer is a serious disease if I shared this to others I am going to loose my family's social prestige

This is our key challenge now to work out honestly to expose the root causes of such social stigma since some people are not only loosing their lives because of not screening timely the cancer symptoms but also leaving burdens to their family members and other close relatives.        

  • Hello Kp_n,

    Thanks for posting and sharing your view on the forum. The stigma of cancer, particularly in ethnic communities, is a huge barrier that can prevent people all over the UK from getting the help they need. This challenge is becoming more and more clear to Cancer Research UK and we're looking for ways to break down this barrier as an organisation. You can read more about this here. It’s important that the message of early screening, talking and getting the right information about cancer reaches everyone regardless of their background.

    Moderator Anastasia