Medical students from the University of Navarra joined the "Movember" movement (an anglicism that arises from combining the words november and moustache) during the past month. This international social initiative consists of growing a moustache during the month of November in order to raise awareness of male diseases.

In this case, the students focused the idea on prostate cancer because of its high impact on society. "What we intended was that everyone who strolled through campus would come across some conscientious mustache adorning the smile of our Mo Bros (short for moustache brothers)," explains Iker Elosua. "We hoped to raise awareness of a disease that is very prevalent in our environment while raising funds to support scientific progress in this field," he adds.

In this way, the Movember Unav movement has managed to raise 2,201 euros for research about prostate cancer thanks to individual donations and musical and sports activities in which students from different centers of campus participated. "Many people from other Schools have gotten involved and have contributed their grain of sand," says Iker.

Passion for medicine and its values

Iker Elosua says that he came up with promote this initiative at the university because last year a friend of his from the USA did it with his field hockey team. "If he did it with a field hockey team, why not do it with some medical students," he says.

"It was born out of our passion for medicine and the values it represents. We are not doctors yet, but we wanted to educate the population about these diseases and help them better understand some aspects of them," concludes Iker, a member of the organization, which has 20 members, half of them students.

The Movember movement started in Melbourne in 2003, when two friends decided to start a challenge that involved growing a mustache in November, and not shaving once. Although it also had aesthetic and humorous purposes, its ultimate goal was to raise money to fight diseases related to men's health. Inspired by the breast cancer movement, they were not very successful at the time. However, this movement has now gone viral, which has helped these young men gain the support of celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone and Leonardo DiCaprio.