What happened to last year’s Movember donations?

• Posted on 31 October 2017
• By Bertram Welink
• Posted in News
• 0

By signing up to the Movember Run Amsterdam, you make a contribution to Movember. But what does Movember actually do with that money? Here’s an overview of the activities that Movember funded last year.

Before we speak about the ‘what’, let’s cover the ‘why’ first with some important stats from the Netherlands (source: Movember).

Men’s health

• * The average life expectancy for Dutch men is three years less than for women (presently 80 years compared to 83 years)
• * Cancer is still the leading cause of death in the Netherlands
• * Over half of men (56%) are currently overweight.

Prostate cancer

• * Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer for Dutch men
• * In 2015, 10.497 people were diagnosed with prostate cancer

Testicular cancer

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer for men under 45.

Physical inactivity

23.7% of Dutch men were insufficiently active in 2015.

Projects funded by Movember in 2016

Last year, in the Netherlands, Movember focused on funding prostate and testicular cancer research. Worldwide Movember also supported initiatives to decrease the high suicide rates for men. Movember donations in the Netherlands went to the following projects:

GAP 1 Projects

Local researchers worked with the global GAP1 team to develop better tests that more accurately distinguish between low-risk and aggressive forms of prostate cancer, so that treatments can be tailored according to the type of cancer a man is diagnosed with.

GAP 2 Imaging

In the Netherlands the Movember Foundation funds researchers as part of the GAP 2 project to develop new tracers and techniques, which will enable better and earlier detection of prostate cancer spread.

GAP 3 Active Surveillance

Professor Chris Bangma, Head of Urology at Erasmus is leading the GAP project on Active Surveillance in the Netherlands. This will create the largest centralized prostate cancer Active Surveillance database which involves regular monitoring of men with a low-risk disease. It will help develop new therapeutic guidelines, and ultimately reducing overtreatment and improving the quality of life.

GAP5

The GAP5 Testicular Cancer TIGER trial is a large multinational clinical trial set to investigate the best treatments for men who show a relapse of testicular cancer, despite having received chemotherapy. Researchers in the Netherlands will be funded by Movember. Prof Leendert Looijenga at Erasmus University has been participating in the steering committee.

If you’re interested in learning more about the projects that were funded by Movember worldwide, check out the The Work We Fund page on the Movember website. If you want to make a contribution today, sign up for the Movember Run Amsterdam!