The Scottish charity Let's Talk About Mouth Cancer were proud to be an intellectual sponsor of the inaugural Global Oral Cancer Forum (GOCF) held on 4-5 March 2016 in the Kimnel Centre at New York University. The five trustees from the charity (pictured) joined 200 delegates of diverse clinical and non-clinical backgrounds from 33 countries to work on reducing the global oral cancer burden which claims the lives of 150,000 people each year.

Two posters detailing the findings from the Let's Talk About Mouth Cancer public awareness and empowerment campaigns delivered in Edinburgh and Dundee were presented. These were well received and garnered interest from delegates of various backgrounds and nationality.

(l-r) Victor Lopes, Orna Ní Choile´in, Niall Mc Goldrick, Stephanie Sammut and Ewan MacKessack-Leitch from Let's Talk About Mouth Cancer

According to Mr MacKessack-Leitch, the take home message for the team was the importance of advocacy to politicians, health authorities and health professionals to make mouth cancer prevention, detection and early referral a priority. The next steps for the charity will aim to meet these challenges and report back to the next GOCF provisionally scheduled for two years' time.

www.letstalkaboutmouthcancer.co.uk