A Northam general practitioner is staring in a 13-week television commercial helping residents throughout WA to detect cancer early.
Dr Marie Fox features in the 'Rural Doctors Bathroom' campaign, which started airing from Sunday, February 9 to break the ice on discussing cancer symptoms.
Wheatbelt regional education officer Melissa Pickering said while new data showed the campaign's 'Find Cancer Early' messages were starting to have impact, there was still a long way to go to improve early detection.
"The campaign is prompting people to take action, and our recent evaluation data reveals that more than a third of regional viewers took action as a result of seeing or hearing the Find Cancer Early advertisements," she said.
"Encouragingly, we've seen a 61 per cent increase from 2018 in people taking action within 12 weeks of seeing the campaign, but we'd still like to see people taking earlier action rather than waiting up to 12 weeks."
Ms Pickering said prostate, breast, skin, bowel and lung cancer comprised of almost 60 per cent of all cancer diagnoses.
"Research indicates regional people tend to present at the GP at a later stage for a number of reasons including because they can be more optimistic, laid back and sometimes make excuses for not seeking help, which may contribute to later-stage cancer diagnoses," she said.
Dr Fox said she hoped her involvement in the television campaign would encourage people living in the wider Wheatbelt area to act on common symptoms.
"It's so important to talk to your doctor about changes in your body," she said.
"It may be nothing to worry about, but if it is something more serious, your outlook really can be improved by finding any possible cancer as early as possible.
"There have been advances in the way cancer is diagnosed and treated which have led to improvements in survival.
"Never delay seeking advice from your doctor."
