A very interesting event was held in Valletta on Wednesday, whereby a prostate cancer awareness campaign was launched.

In essence, the campaign urges men to get a checkup at hospital, adopt a better diet and perhaps most importantly, urges wives to badger men into getting themselves checked out.

The campaign was also tied to an initiative by St James Hospital to offer prostate cancer checkups at half price. Moreover, general practitioners have been given the freedom to investigate possible cases of prostate cancer without having to refer people to the hospital for an examination.

There were two very salient points raised during the launch of the campaign and one was put by Health Minister Joe Cassar who pointed out that prostate cancer (the gland found below the bladder) presents no symptoms whatsoever before it is too late. The other point, made by Josie Muscat from St James Hospital, was that men often take a laid back attitude towards such things, even when urged to get a checkup. To that effect, he basically urged women to ‘nag’ all the men they know about it in an effort to go and get themselves checked out.

What Dr Muscat said hit the nail on the head. This is a male thing and it is not restricted to prostate cancer. Men in general are terrible when it comes to getting themselves checked out and the reasons are varied. Some men play the macho card and believe that it is a dent to their reputation if they have to go and see a doctor – especially for something that you cannot see. Other men adopt the “it will never happen to me” attitude, and therefore take everything lightly in the misguided belief that they are ‘immune’ to disease. But perhaps the bulk of men are so terrified at the thought of being diagnosed with a serious illness that they prefer to live in ignorance, only seeking treatment when it is too late.

The authorities are trying to do their bit in organising an awareness campaign, but the drive needs to go much further than that – we need to change the mentality of Maltese men (and some women).

In light of this, the sad thing is that prostate cancer is quite treatable if caught early enough. It does not have a high mortality rate, provided that the sufferer seeks treatment when the disease is in its early stages.

While all the above is true, one cannot ignore the fact that prevention is better than cure. Cigarettes, excess alcohol, stress at work and bad diet all contribute towards people getting ill. It is, of course, the easiest thing in the world to say that everyone should stop smoking, stop drinking, do little at work and eat healthily – but it doesn’t quite work out like that.

Sadly in this day and age where everyone is tied to their desks, healthy eating and stress management is not always an option. But as a people we must try. If we continue at this rate, the younger generations are going to be debilitated by the time they reach the age of 50. We must rethink our ways and we need to be vigilant where serious illness comes into play.

Failure to do so will result in our people getting sicker and older before their time and ultimately, will become a bigger burden on society than if they had paced themselves more over the years in every sense – balanced eating, alcohol consumption and work.