Celebrities and Health Awareness

Celebrities, through their own life examples, often help create awareness on health issues more effectively than can be achieved by  other means. And it is the media that plays the vital role of taking this information to the society.

Take coronary disease for example. When Dr Manmohan Singh underwent his second cornary bypass surgery last year at the discussion in party circles often revolved around topics such as success of re-do surgeries and the effectiveness of angioplasty. When Bill Clinton underwent a similar surgery a few years ago, people came to know from his case example that saturated transfats in fast foods (he was passionately fond of burgers) tend to clog the arteries that carry blood to the heart muscles, and prevention needs to start in teens rather than in 40s.

Mr Sharad Pawar’s cheek cancer story was very telling; he was an avid Gutka chewer and what is now too well known is that this habit confers a great risk of oral cancer. In fact, India, where men chew tobaccolike cud, has the highest reported oral cancer rate in the world. What makes Mr Pawar admirable is that after the surgical removal of cancerous growth in USA that has left his face somewhat disfigured, he initiated an anti-Gutka campaign in Maharashtra to prevent other gullible chewers from reaching the same fate.

The Australian pop star Kylie Minogue’s beast cancer story is known in almost every household. As this young girl suffered the disease in her 30s (considered rather early for it as it usually occurs in 50s and 60s), the public followed media coverage of every step of her diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy and rehabilitation with feverish interest. In fact, breast cancer awarenss got its biggest boost due to this event than any amount of government sponsored campaigns had achieved.

The story of AIDs, though somewhat old, is woth remembering. The first celebrity victim it claimed was the legenary Hollywood star Rock Hudson. The public followed his brave fight till the tragic end and learnt about how the infection spreads, how the disease occurs, how it is diagnosed and treated, and what may be done to protect ourselves.

The stigma around diabetes, blood sugar testing and insulin injections have been demystified largely by the great cricketer Wasim Akram. He was one of the 1^st to declare his disease and has campaigned extensively for its screening, monitoring and treatment. And appearing just as fit now as the bowling coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders as he did in his hay days 20 years ago, he has silently assured many that diabetes, if kept well checked, is compatible with healthy energetic life.

The British Royalty has had its own share of medical problems that the public has followed and learnt of over centuries; Hemophilia and Porphyria became known as royal diseases. Through the lives of princess Diana and Victoria Beckam, people have learnt about eating disorders, through Parveen Babi and Brooke Shields, we have learnt about Schizophrenia and Depression, from Patrick Swayze about pancreatic cancer and from Michael Jackson about drugs overdose! And many many others!!

If the community has learnt from these and other celebrities, it is the media that has played a crucial role in educating us. 

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 10 january ,2010.