Promoting continence as a health issue

Urinary incontinence is a common condition affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide but for which up to 70% of sufferers seek no help. Continence promotion activities must target not only the incontinence sufferers and their families but also the general community, health professionals, the industry that manufactures continence products and drugs, and the Government which is responsible for funding directly or indirectly various programmes. Continence promotion programmes must therefore be sufficiently flexible to target these groups about what incontinence is, what can be done about it, and where to get help, and most importantly to de-stigmatise this condition. Continence promotion is taking place internationally through the efforts of the International Continence Society and locally through various national non-profit-making organisations. Activities include public awareness and professional education programmes; continence prevention strategies; and establishing mechanisms for improved communication. 'CONTInet', a dedicated Internet facility, is evolving as a major tool to achieve many of these goals.