Advocacy
The vision of the Global Coalition for Radiotherapy (GCR) is to live in a world where access to quality radiotherapy is universal and equitable. We can achieve this by engaging with you and our collaborative network of expert advocates in radiotherapy and cancer care.
GCR Co-Founder Professor Pat Price is interviewed at the UK Parliament #CatchUpWithCancer Advocacy Event. By using the Radiotherapy Fact Sheet, she can keep her answers concise and easy to understand.
Member of Parliament Grahame Morris signs a letter calling for investment in Radiotherapy. Providing photo opportunities for government leaders allows them to show their support on social and print media.
What is Radiotherapy?
Radiation therapy (RT), also known as radiotherapy, is a cutting-edge cancer treatment that uses beams of high energy to kill, shrink, or control the growth of tumors.
Proven effective
Radiotherapy is curative in nearly every type of cancer.
Excellent value
In many radiotherapy treatments, outcomes were comparable and even superior to other treatment options while simultaneously saving the patients and providers money.
Clear choice during pandemics
With the COVID-19–induced cancer backlog and future worldwide cancer burden, radiation therapy has emerged as a safe cancer therapy to continue to treat patients and substitute for canceled surgery in some tumors.
Convenient
Most patients can continue normal activity during and immediately following radiotherapy treatment.
Long-term survival
Approximately 50-60% of all people diagnosed with cancer receive radiotherapy at some point during their care.
Download our Radiotherapy Fact Sheet
Build an Advocacy Campaign
Why a campaign?
An advocacy campaign allows organizations to focus their collective resources more effectively, streamline messaging, avoid duplicative efforts and measure results.
Plan your campaign
Identifying leadership and accountability for a campaign is critical so that you can define, implement and measure advocacy results effectively.
By employing Tendo Consulting, a public affairs agency, Radiotherapy UK leverages their public presence. This video clip is a media spot with GCR Co-Founder Pat Price identifying why Radiotherapy is a “silver bullet” in cancer care.
Develop a timeline
What will be the lifespan of the campaign? Setting milestones for the campaign is critical for setting expectations with stakeholders, and for keeping track of your targets and milestones.
brand the campaign
The name should reflect your issue, and be short, catchy and memorable. For example, Radiotherapy UK, which is advocating for better access to radiotherapy, has developed a side campaign called Catch Up With Cancer, advocating for the end to the cancer backlog as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The #CatchUpWithCancer campaign uses a memorable hashtag that can easily be recognized and is often used in photo opportunities. Pictured left to right: Member of Parliament Tim Farron, Radiotherapy UK Representative Craig Russell, Radiotherapy UK Chair & GCR Co-Founder Pat Price, Member of Parliament Grahame Morris.
Radiotherapy UK Representative Craig Russell is interviewed at the UK Parliament #CatchUpWithCancer Advocacy Event. He shares his story to help personalize the call to action.
Personalize the campaign
Put a patient at the heart of your campaign, the power of the patient story cannot be overstated. Targeting Cancer, for example, has a selection of short videos available on their website and YouTube page, which outline individual patient’s stories. These are emotive, informative and patient centered.
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Radiotherapy UK partnered with Craig and Mandy Russell when they lost their daughter Kelly at the age of 31 to bowel cancer. This brave couple has shared their story to make sure other families do not lose loved ones as a direct result of treatment backlog
Engage with GCR
The GCR team can help with making connections with similar countries or international organizations that have successfully implemented advocacy campaigns like the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), European Society for Radiation Oncology (ESTRO), City Cancer Challenge and others, who can help you identify additional organizations or contacts that could be useful to your advocacy efforts.
Advocating for a world where access to quality radiotherapy begins with you and the GCR has resources to support.