Reception to Mark the Launch of the Cancer Survivor Empowerment Campaign ‘Over Cancer Together’

date : 12/4/2012

On the 14 November, representatives of the American Cancer Society and the Livestrong Foundation came to Japan to attend the reception celebrating the launch of a grassroots advocacy empowerment campaign in Japan. The reception saw the gathering of the members of various organizations participating in the Japan campaign, as well as other interested parties.

As part of the Over Cancer Together campaign, cancer survivors* help to raise the profile of Japan’s cancer problem through speaking about their own experiences in front of participants from various backgrounds, including media, policy formulation and civil society. It is also hoped that survivor’s voices can be utilized for carrying out forums, which will aim to contribute to the achievement of ‘a society in which all citizens, including cancer patients, know about, confront, and don’t give in to cancer’, as highlighted by the Basic Plan to Promote Cancer Control Programs.

The first forum under this campaign will be held in autumn of next year, and through cancer survivors talking about their experiences this forum will act not only to highlight the issue, but also to call various groups of people to action, such as other survivors, the general public, politicians, and those in the medical field. In the lead up to this forum, training programs will be carried out to help cancer survivors learn the tools required to speak out about their experiences.

We hope to establish a forum that will involve people from a wide range of backgrounds in thinking about cancer issues, so we kindly ask for your support and participation.

The campaign will be carried out through the collaboration a number of organizations, with the Health and Global Policy Institute acting as the administrative base.

≪Participating Organizations in the Campaign（As of 1 December 2012）≫
NPO Cancer Net Japan
Japan for Livestrong　
Japan Association of Medical Translation for Cancer　
Oncology Education Project

■Launch Party Reception
・Date：14 November (Wednesday)
・Venue：Hotel New Otani

At the reception singer and cancer survivor Ms. Mayu Toyama spoke about her experiences, and gave a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine”. Ms. Toyama’s speech and performance can be viewed on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtgn_0id0O8&feature=youtu.be

As part of the campaign a website has been established. Detailed information about the campaign and its future directions will be released and updated via the website and on the campaign Facebook page.
Official website: www.octjapan.jp　（Under construction）
Official Facebook page:　www.facebook.com/octjapan.jp

*For the purposes of this campaign, the term ‘cancer survivor’ will be used to describe a range of people with some kind of connection to cancer, including family, friends and relatives of those with an experience as well as cancer patients themselves.

Exhibition date：2012-11-14

(From the right) Rebekkah Schear (Oversees international programs for the LIVESTRONG Foundation) Kiti Kajana (The non-communicable disease program manager at the American Cancer Society (ACS)) Leigh Harmon (Oversees training and education programs for the LIVESTRONG Foundation)

Ms. Mayu Toyama

At the reception a vote was also carried out for determining the logo for the campaign. The logo was created by designer Mr.Haruhiko Hirota, who incorporated the ideas behind the campaign to develop an illustration that represented the involvement and support of many different people and many types of cancer by using a collection of colorful circles. The English strapline of ‘Over Cancer Together’ is superimposed on the image, giving the appearance of the figure approaching a finish line tape comprising the objective of this campaign.

Reception to Mark the Launch of the Cancer Survivor Empowerment Campaign ‘Over Cancer Together’

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