Goal 1: To embed skin cancer prevention across the public sector, private sector and community

Overview

Making skin cancer prevention ‘routine’ across our priority settings requires a coordinated approach with the NSW Government and non-government agencies, the private sector, and the community. Collaboration across sectors to create supportive sun-safe environments has been a key strength of skin cancer prevention work in NSW over the past decade. 

Between 2023 and 2030, this Strategy sets an ambitious objective to embed skin cancer prevention policy, procedures, programs and campaigns, in all our priority settings. This will require a transformational shift in the reach and impact of skin cancer prevention initiatives, from specific policies to organisation-wide approaches. To achieve this objective, this Strategy harnesses the strength of cross-sectoral strategic partnerships to drive further and deeper into our priority settings than ever before.

There are opportunities to increase the reach and impact of skin cancer prevention initiatives such as increased shade and sun protection behaviours, by linking them with complementary benefits including:

• heat management strategies that manage the risks associated with exposure to high temperatures while outdoors
• encouraging physical activity and active transport
• enhancing social connection and wellbeing by being outdoors in a sun-safe environment.

Building on our achievements 

This Strategy will build on the work of the previous two skin cancer prevention strategies, such as:

• influencing local planning and development policy in councils across NSW, to include shade to reduce overexposure to UV
• making submissions on state planning policy to embed sun safety into the built environment
• encouraging and increasing sporting and recreational organisations’ adoption of sun protection policies, so people can be safer when physically active
• actively engaging with early childhood centres and schools, children and adolescents to foster sun protection behaviours early in life.

What success will look like

Successful implementation of the key strategies for Goal 1 will require workplaces, schools, universities, TAFEs, sporting and recreational organisations, public space managers, and our health services, to take a coordinated approach through strategic policy, operational procedures, programs and education. This coordinated approach reorients activity to making skin cancer prevention ‘routine’, while improving liveability of the environments here people work, learn and play.

Complementary benefits of skin cancer prevention

Recent achievements to increase implementation of comprehensive and effective sun protection policies and guidelines

The first goal in the NSW Skin Cancer Prevention Strategy 2016–2022 focused on sun protection policies and guidelines. Recent achievements in this domain include:

• More than 200 submissions to Local Strategic Planning Statements, which guide NSW councils’ local planning and development policy, resulting in the recognition of shade in a significant number of planning documents.ⁱ  
• State Sporting Organisations increased their adoption of sun protection policies, including UV radiation protection and heat management.
• Over 2000 schools reached through the Cancer Council’s SunSmart Program, showing substantial implementation of sun protection policies in this priority setting for the priority populations of children and adolescents resulted in the recognition of shade in a significant number of planning documents. Development and implementation of a new ShadeSmart program, which brings health, design, and planning experts together to develop best practice training in shade planning and design.