SURFING WA EXTEND PARTNERSHIP WITH SUNSMART 🌤

ASB MAGAZINE:  Surfing Western Australia is thrilled to announce a two-year extension to it’s partnership with Healthway to deliver skin cancer prevention education to Western Australians through the SunSmart message. This vital funding will assist Surfing WA to deliver a suite of events and education programs that encourage sun protection and provide healthier community events for around 130,000 Western Australians.  Healthway have been a long-term supporter of Surfing WA, with the partnership spanning close to three decades.

The two-year extension will aim at encouraging young Western Australians who are surfing or being active outdoors to adopt sun safe behaviours that prevent skin cancer by remembering to – Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide.

With around two in three Australians developing skin cancer before the age of 70, reducing sun exposure in childhood and adolescence can greatly reduce the chance of developing skin cancer later in life.

Surfing WA will collaborate with the Cancer Council WA’s SunSmart Schools Program, to provide opportunities for schools and students to receive ongoing sun safety education.

“The partnership approach to providing SunSmart education is an important strategy for reducing harm from skin cancer in the WA community,” said WA Health Minister Roger Cook. “It’s important for children and young people to understand the dangers of overexposure to the sun and how to protect themselves. Summer is on our doorstep and we want children and families to be active and spend time outdoors, so we need to educate them to slip, slop, slap, seek and slide.” 

“The SunSmart message has become synonymous with Surfing WA events and programs over the years,” said Surfing WA CEO Mark Lane. “We’re thrilled to be extending the partnership and believe genuinely in the delivery of this important health message to West Australians of all ages.”

About SunSmart:

“Anywhere you go UV will damage unprotected skin. And it just keeps adding up.”

SunSmart is currently running a ‘UV, It all adds up’ campaign that seeks to remind us that overexposure to UV radiation can occur regardless of the type of outdoor activity people undertake. Your skin is like a memory bank — it remembers all the sunburns, all the tans and all the time you spent exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation, without sun protection.  Every time you expose your skin to UV radiation, changes take place in the structure and function of your skin cells. You can’t always see the damage, but it is irreversible and will worsen with every exposure. Over time, this skin damage can result in premature ageing, eye damage, sunspots, and at worst, skin cancer.  People are reminded to check the UV Index when they are exposing their skin to the sun and to protect themselves when the UV index is 3 or higher.  VisitmyUV.com.au for your UV forecast and to download the SunSmart App.