Mer­ck ap­plies DIY mind­set to can­cer screen­ings, adding to in­dus­try post-pan­dem­ic ef­forts

Mil­lions of peo­ple stuck at home dur­ing the pan­dem­ic took on do-it-your­self home projects. Now Mer­ck wants them to turn the ta­bles on them­selves and get back to self-care.

The “Do it For Your­self” cam­paign en­cour­ages peo­ple to pay at­ten­tion to po­ten­tial lung can­cer symp­toms such as pro­longed un­ex­plained cough or con­tin­u­ous short­ness of breath.

While health checks dropped pre­cip­i­tous­ly dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, can­cer screen­ings were es­pe­cial­ly hard hit. Screen­ings for lung can­cer, which is the lead­ing cause of can­cer deaths in the US, de­creased by 50% in 2020, said Kris­ten Drake, Mer­ck ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor, glob­al com­mu­ni­ca­tions.

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