Slip! Slop! Slap! and SunSmart, 1980-2000: Skin cancer control and 20 years of population-based campaigning

Abstract

The Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria has been running sun protection programs for more than 20 years: Slip! Slop! Slap! from 1980 to 1988 and SunSmart from 1988 to the present. The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation has provided funding for the SunSmart program for the past 13 years. These programs have played an important role in changing the whole society's approach to the sun and have resulted in marked reductions in sun exposure. This article describes the social, political, economic, and organizational context within which these programs developed. Then 10 areas are discussed that illustrate a critical aspect of the development and implementation of this successful systemwide health promotion program. These areas focus on key aspects of the context within which the program operates and on issues that derive from the experience of implementing program strategies. In summary, the success of the two programs is described as having been built on two key foundations: the vital integration of research and evaluation, on one hand, and a strong basis of consistency and continuity, on the other.