An aggressive campaign based upon awareness, identification and research has apparently succeeded in fighting skin cancer in Israel.
Under the direction of the Israel Cancer Association (ICA), a three-pronged approach to treating skin cancer appears to have made significant progress in fighting melanoma, The Media Line reports.
“We were third in the world in the incidents and mortality after Australia and New Zealand and it was, of course, because we have a lot of people who come from Europe with light skin,” Miri Ziv, director-general of the Israel Cancer Association (ICA) told The Media Line. “In the last five years, Israel dropped to the 20th country with the highest incidents, and in terms of mortality, we dropped to number 13 for men and number 20 for women.”
Although melanoma is on the rise globally, the disease has stabilized in Israel. Ziv attributes the success largely to the ICA’s focus on promoting a sensible attitude regarding sun bathing in TV and in the media.
Other reasons, she explains, are the newly created skin care apps, such as “DermaCompare,” and the development of immunotherapy drugs.
“Take, track, treat” is the slogan for Emerald Medical Applications’ newest app, DermaCompare, released just six months ago, The Media Line continues. “The app, which is FDA approved, uses air force image processing and big data analytics to track suspicious moles by asking users to take photos of themselves while clad only their underwear and upload to the images to the app.”
By: United with Israel Staff
(With files from The Media Line)