According to the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), cancer is the lottery with the highest number of "winners" in Spain. The CNIO message is certainly strong, aimed at highlighting the importance of research to fight this disease, which is bound to affect one every three Spaniards at some point in their lives.
The campaign delivered shocking messages like "It may affect your life"; "In 2021, there were 276,239 'winners'"; or "One out of three people are bound to 'win'" in various points of information across the city, as a way of catching the attention of passers-by and publicising the work done by the CNIO to reduce these numbers. In an effort to raise awareness of the need for research funds, the CNIO has established its own lottery retailer to manage this most unfortunate lottery.
Located on 14 Arenal Street in Madrid, the store will be open today all day, giving information about the CNIO activities to all those visitors who want to learn about the Centre and support it by making donations, which are then used to hire more cancer researchers. Playing popular lottery games like "Scratch & Win", visitors can learn a few interesting facts about cancer in Spain, including the most common cancer types among the Spanish population.
Cancer really is like a lottery. Only research can protect us from it. This is the message we want to convey with this campaign, which we understand can sound shocking at first, especially to those people who have experienced the disease first-hand. On the occasion of World Cancer Day, we believe it is important to let people know that Spain has one of the world's leading cancer research centres and that their donations can help our research team fight this unlucky lottery – which, unfortunately, any of us can win."
Maria A. Blasco, CNIO Director
The CNIO has established a special channel for donations to hire young researchers – CNIO Friends –, with the aim of opening up new lines of research to understand, diagnose and treat cancer effectively. Donations can be made at the CNIO Friends website, calling the special CNIO number to this end, or using the Bizum code 03427.
The multichannel lottery campaign will be present in shopping centres, buses, train stations and radio stations all over Spain. It was launched with the support of Exterior Plus, JCDecaux and PRISA Radio.
The CNIO is a Spain-based institution dedicated to cancer research, diagnosis and treatment. It is currently headed by scientist Maria A. Blasco. Ranked among the world's ten best cancer centres, it was certified as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence for the third straight time in 2020. The CNIO comprises more than 400 highly specialised researchers and technicians who work hard to stop cancer from being one of the leading causes of mortality globally. To achieve this goal, it leads clinical trials, offers diagnostic and genetic counselling to thousands of families, and carries out innovative research projects to find new solutions for cancer patients.
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