From their website:
For over 10 years, we at Oncoguia have worked tirelessly and daily to inform, support and defend the rights of cancer patients. And along our journey, we feel how much our work has grown, transformed and matured.
Therefore, we have undergone a (r)evolution in our institutional culture that is reflected in our identity, representing our personality, our purpose and reinforcing our connection with everyone who has their lives touched by cancer. The colors represent the different types of cancer that exist, in addition to the singularities, priorities and wishes of each patient. The colors together convey the idea of diversity and inclusion. We are here for each of you and for all of you at the same time. As individuals and as a collective. We’re here. With you. For you.
A little bit of our history
Oncoguia was “born” in 2009, from the union of a group of health professionals and former cancer patients, led by psycho-oncologist Luciana Holtz de C. Barros, who started the NGO, a non-profit association, created and designed with the aim of helping cancer patients to live better through quality information projects and actions, health education, patient support and guidance, advocacy and advocacy.
The NGO was a second step taken by Luciana Holtz after the creation, in 2003, of the Oncoguia portal. A need that arose from the clinical observation of the psycho-oncologist that the information available on the internet, often without quality and false, left the cancer patient scared, worried and helpless.
The portal, then, became a safe and high-quality information channel for these patients, their families and caregivers, and remains, to this day, as the central structure of Oncoguia’s work. With scientifically based content and reviewed by a committee of experts in the area.
Cancer scenario in Brazil
The work of Oncoguia is inserted in a very challenging context, because although we do not have an adequate program in Brazil for registering cancer cases, we know that annually more than 600 thousand people are diagnosed with the disease and approximately 40% already discover cancer. in advanced stages.
Another very serious fact is that we do not know how many patients are living with the disease, in addition to facing basic problems such as the high degree of misinformation and prejudice of the population, and urgent and complex issues, such as the difficulty in accessing medical care, exams and both standard and modern and high-cost treatments available only to a small and exclusive portion of the population.
Today, we can say, with very few exceptions, that cancer is on the waiting list in Brazil and that it urgently needs to be prioritized.
Promoting access is a priority in the cancer world. And we are talking about access to quality information, early detection, quick and quality treatments and also quality of life.
Quality information
Information is a fundamental step in the gear capable of provoking the necessary change in attitude regarding the way we take care of ourselves (with or without cancer) and also how we fight to guarantee our rights.
We continue with the challenge of achieving, with a lot of quality information and reception, the all-important change in attitude, so that each patient is more active and responsible (PAR). This makes all the difference in the individual world of each one and also in the world of cancer as a whole. After all, each person is capable of bringing about a transformation.
The battle is great, but Oncoguia spares no effort to overcome all existing challenges, strengthening, encouraging and guiding people living with cancer so that they can face this challenge in the best possible way, offering more and more information and personalized guidance, support and reception, in addition to defending the rights of those who fight cancer daily.
We are also very committed to having better public and private cancer policies in Brazil.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, and for that we need the participation and involvement of the entire population, especially people who face or have faced cancer!
We dream of a Brazil and, why not, of a world where prejudice, suffering and deaths caused by cancer no longer exist.
We are here with you and for you, always!