Sun Awareness Week
Although a BAD awareness week, we encourage members of the public to get involved in any way that they can – the key is raising awareness around sun protection and skin cancer – the most common cancer in the UK to date.
Our Sun Awareness Week marks the start of a summer long campaign to provide people with information so they can practice sun safety. Sun Awareness Week 2024 will be from 6 May to 12 May. Our focus this year will be around raising awareness of non-melanoma skin cancer and best practices for people to check their skin for this very common type of skin cancer.
What We Teach
Our Sun Awareness Week campaign goes out to teach the public using a two-pronged approach, providing advice on prevention as well as early detection. By teaching prevention, we aim to raise awareness of the dangers of burning and excessive tanning, and to discourage people from using sunbeds. We also teach people how to spot the signs of skin cancer to increase the number of people who get diagnosed early. We have also successfully campaigned for legislative action to improve the regulation of sunbeds, and this is something we will continue to do.
Previous Years
In previous years we have had plenty of interesting surveys and events come out during Sun Awareness Week.
In 2017 we published a survey that showed that more than one in three (35%) of people were burning every year in the UK, with a further 46% burning while abroad.
In other years we’ve hosted events such as an educational mole check at Shepherds Bush Westfield Shopping centre, or 2014’s event where Team GB’s Louis Smith and Greg Rutherford became Sun Awareness Week lifeguards for photo opportunity sun protection postcards.
Keep an eye on our social media channels for updates!