The Blue November campaign, promoted in Brazil by Lado a Lado pela Vida Institute in partnership with the Brazilian Society of Urology, looks for drawing attention to prostate cancer and encouraging screening for this neoplasm. International research, however, has shown that this screening may do more harm than good. Being committed to the concept of quaternary prevention, the Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine publicly questioned the campaign and its proposal in 2015. This narrative review discusses this positioning and its consequences, through critically analyzing arguments both in favor and contrary to screening. Based on this, we discuss about limits of prevention, commenting on the relationship between media and health and reflecting on more appropriate actions for the care of men, based on multicenter studies, systematic reviews, institutional documents, reports and qualitative research. The debate helps to promote comprehensive care for the male population.
Men’s health; Mass screening; Prostatic neoplasms; Quaternary prevention