REPORTAGE – Bretons have three times more skin cancers diagnosed each year than the rest of France. At the beginning of summer, the Cancer League multiplies actions to raise awareness of the dangers of the sun.
Studious but relaxed atmosphere in the small room of the reception area for Lamballe Travelers (Côtes-d’Armor). On this sunny Tuesday in July, a dozen travelers gathered there for a workshop on the dangers of the sun, organized by the League against Côtes-d’Armor cancer. Pencil in hand, Marie Berhault, nurse, draws on the whiteboard of the room the three types of sun rays and explains how to protect yourself from UV, the most dangerous for the skin. When the association’s prevention manager insists that it is possible to have sunburn even in the shade, the five women of the assistance are surprised. “”I didn’t know it“Admit Laëtitia and Henriette, who thought herself protected under the awning of their caravan. Marie Berhault also insists on the good ways of applying sunscreen, before concluding her intervention with a distribution of caps, sunscreens, bracelets that are colored in contact with UV and goodies For children. “”The message has passed, but it will have to be repeated to protect yourself from the sun becomes a reflex for them“Smiles the nurse, who takes place for the second consecutive year on the area.
This year, the Cancer League organized several actions of this type in several French departments, as part of its campaign “We are not sausages”. In Brittany, the Costarmorican antenna supervised several workshops and animations in June and July, in partnership with the Restos du Coeur, but also in the departmental associations of relatives and friends of people with mental disabilities (Adapei), and on the reception areas of travel people. The objective: to target different types of audiences, often not very aware of the dangers of the sun. Actions have also been carried out in partnership with the French Football Federation during youth tournaments, in Finistère.
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A thousand melanoma diagnosed each year
It must be said that Brittany has a sad record: there are three times more skin cancers there than in the rest of the country and each year, a thousand melanomas is diagnosed in the region. The Côtes-d’Armor, Morbihan and Finistère display excessively 20 %, 25 % and 34 % respectively compared to the national average in men and 28 % in women, according to figures from the league against cancer. “”There is a lack of education on the dangers of the sun in Brittany and especially in rural areas. It’s cultural. Young, we have never been taught to protect ourselves from the sun, so we have to do a lot of prevention, without being afraid“Explains Jérôme Robert, director of the League against Côtes-d’Armor cancer.
Manuella Binet/ Le Figaro
Among the possible reasons put forward to explain these bad figures, the absence of sun protection application on the skin, even in case of good weather. However, it is not the heat, but the UV that is responsible for skin cancers, and ” They are in Brittany as present as elsewhere, even in cloudy weather. Today for example, it is 21 °, but the UV index is 7, and it is necessary to protect your skin as soon as the UV index is above 3 “Recalls Marie Berhault. The Bretons are also numerous to have the skin, eyes, skin tones and clear hair, the most at risk of developing skin cancer.
If the League against Cancer tries to raise awareness of the least informed Bretons on the dangers of the sun, it does so in a complementary manner with the prevention campaigns that have also led the Health Insurance of Côtes-d’Armor and the Mutualité Sociale Agricole. “”Put your sailor rather than toast like a sausage», « Put yourself in the shade of a menhir so as not to grill like a lobster“Or”Put more sunscreen on your head than butter on your pancake»… Four years ago, the humorous slogans of the alert-breizh campaign of the health insurance funds made it possible to reach more than 1,850,000 Bretons (almost half of the population) on social networks. Not to mention the various actions carried out in the field each summer, such as the implementation of prevention stands for children during summer events in the department …
This year, a mailing campaign, targeting parents of young children, was also launched by the CPAM of Côtes-d’Armor in early July, to make them aware of the dangers of the Breton sun. In France, 8 out of 10 skin cancers are due to overexposure to UV rays, still recalls the league against cancer.
