A NATIONAL campaign aiming to promote awareness of lung cancer has been launched in Southampton.

City mayor Councillor Brian Parnell joined representatives from Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation to unveil an advertising image at WestQuay Shopping Centre.

Timed to support the Global Lung Cancer Awareness Month during November, the image will focus on helping people to recognise the symptoms of the disease and will promote the message that early diagnosis saves lives.

Beer mats bearing the image are being distributed to pubs and awareness-raising leaflets, which clearly explain the symptoms and how to get help, are being distributed nationwide.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death for men and women in the UK, with a dismal prognosis for most sufferers and very poor outcomes compared with other countries.

Survival rates are currently at just six per cent, with 80 per cent dying within the first year and an average survival of four months from the point of diagnosis.

Despite this incidence, lung cancer has a very poor media profile and is a socially-stigmatised disease.

Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation will be urging those at risk - primarily smokers or ex-smokers and older men and women from lower demographic social groups - to be on the lookout for symptoms and to get themselves checked out as soon as symptoms appear.

People are 40 times more likely to survive when lung cancer is detected in the early stages.

Symptoms can include a chest infection that does not get better, a persistent cough, coughing up blood, breathlessness, chest pain, hoarseness or a change in voice, problems with swallowing and feeling generally unwell and tired.

Anyone experiencing these symptoms should contact their GP immediately and ask to be referred to a chest specialist.

For more information on lung cancer, call the Macmillan CancerLine on 0808 808 2020 or the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation Helpline on 0800 358 7200.