Celebrities and cancer campaigns: time for a rethink?

摘要

"Jade Goody's tragic battle against cervical cancer shocked us all. It might have even made you worry about your own health." These were the words emblazoned across the homepage of a popular online women's health magazine the day after the death a year ago of the UK reality TV star, aged 27What followed in the days and weeks after her death in March, 2009, would lead to the first year-on-year increase in the number of women going for cervical-cancer screening in that month since 2002. The previous downward trend had seen the overall proportion of women aged 25-64 attending screening appointments drop below 80% for the third year in a row in 2008. It would be interesting to see, a year on from Goody's death, whether the positive effect she had on screening rates has persisted.