ROMA (ITALPRESS) – This year the wide participation in the Make Sense Campaign, the European campaign of education and awareness on the importance of early diagnosis of cancers in the head-neck district. The XIV edition, which took place from 21 to 26 September all over the national territory, has recorded a significant adhesion both from the public, and from the sanitary facilities, with an increase of 35,21% of the participating centers regarding 2025, passed from 149 to 192.
Promoted in Italy by the Italian Association of Oncology Cervico-Cefalica ETS (AIOCC), the initiative has seen the participation of 192 health structures, of which 160 public and 32 private, among hospitals, clinics, ASL, AUSL and ASST; a capillary network that involved all Italian regions, in addition to the Republic of San Marino and to a center in Albania, offering the population the possibility of free diagnosis, The regions that have joined with the most centers have been Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Sicily and Veneto.
Also this year the Make Sense Campaign recorded a significant response from the population: 4401 people who, according to the data currently available, joined the call of AIOCC to undergo an early diagnosis visit. Of these, 804 were addressed to further diagnostic insights. The data, collected at 87.5% of the 192 centers participating in the initiative, are still partial, with numbers destined to grow in the coming days, once the collection of information related to citizens who participated in the Make Sense Campaign 2026 is completed.
The wide spread of the messages of the Campaign is also reflected in the traffic data of the social channels of AIOCC, which has recorded a significant increase of activity in conjunction with the initiative: the Facebook page, of AIOCC has totaled 1,597.814 views, over 11,900 clicks on the content and links of the Campaign, and more than 940 interactions. The main objectives of the campaign are always two: educating the public on the symptoms and risk factors of the head-neck neoplasms to promote early recognition, and stressing the importance of prevention, promoting a message that goes beyond the single week of initiatives, to encourage control practices and healthy lifestyles every day, all year round.
The Make Sense Campaign is a crucial event to raise public awareness about often underestimated pathologies, reasserting how early diagnosis can make a difference in the outcome of treatment. One of the most critical aspects of cancers in the head-neck district, which include all neoplasms originating in this area – excluding eyes, brain and esophagus – is the difficulty of diagnosis. These are tumors that manifest with common symptoms, easily confoundable with seasonal or negligible disorders.
Premature diagnosis is decisive, since the survival rate reaches 80-90% in patients where the disease is detected in the initial stages and the necessary treatments are less aggressive. On the contrary, a late diagnosis involves a lower chance of care and poor quality of life. Experts agree that, if present even one of these symptoms for three weeks or more, it is necessary to address to the doctor: pain in the tongue, ulcers that do not heal and/or red or white spots in the mouth; pain in the throat; persistent firmness; pain and/or difficulty swallowing; swelling of the neck; nose closed on one side and/or loss of blood from the nose.
Awareness of the symptoms, awareness of the timings that make a simple symptom an alarm bell (regulation 1×3), a healthy diet and an active lifestyle, confirm the fundamental rules to lead a long, healthy life, and to take care of ourselves and the loved ones, suggestions of which for over ten years the Make Sense Campaign has made itself a spokesman.
Among the initiatives that accompanied the Make Sense Campaign 2026, also the publication of Stories of Life, Stories of Care. Head-neck: comic biography of an anatomical district, the volume of the Graphic Anatomy necklace published by BeccoGiallo, available in the library since September 25. Written by Massimo Cirri and illustrated by Davide Narducci and Ernesto Anderle, with the scientific collaboration of AIOCC, Stefano Ratti and Veronica Moretti, the book tells four true stories of people who have faced an oncological pathology of the head-neck district. To do as a conductor is the voice of Massimo Cirri himself, psychologist, journalist and historical conductor of Caterpillar on Rai Radio 2, who also shares his personal experience. Through the testimonies of the protagonists, the volume highlights the value of dialogue between doctor and patient and the importance of building a therapeutic alliance based on trust, listening and human closeness, fundamental elements to address the path of care.
The publication was accompanied by a calendar of presentations and cultural initiatives that crossed several Italian cities – Bari, Venice, Bologna, Pavia, Modena, Milan, Naples, Rome, Lucca and Cagliari – continuing also beyond the conclusion of the Campaign.
– AIOCC press office photos –
(ITALPRESS).
