Iberdrola España and the AECC join forces in the 1st On the Move Against Cancer in Bilbao

Iberdrola España and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) join forces. On Sunday 8 June, the esplanade of the Guggenheim Museum will host the 1st Bilbao On the Move Against Cancer, a charity event for the whole family. 

The 1st Bilbao On the Move, with the main sponsorship of Iberdrola España and the collaboration of the BBK Foundation, has a dual objective. In the words of Mila Gullón, president of the Cancer Association in Bizkaia, ‘with this initiative we want to encourage healthy lifestyles in the general population, but also to raise awareness about the importance of prevention and research into prostate cancer, especially among the male population. With this march we want to involve society in the fight against prostate cancer and raise awareness about the disease’. 

Prostate cancer is the most common tumour in men and is the third most common cause of cancer mortality, behind only lung and colorectal cancer. According to data from the Cancer Association Observatory, in 2024, 1,776 new cases were diagnosed in the Basque Country, of which 930 were in Bizkaia. 

Gullón recalled how ‘following the European Union’s recommendations, a pilot study is being carried out in the Basque Country to assess the implementation of an early prostate cancer detection programme. Research is essential to continue making progress in new diagnostic methods and more effective treatments to increase survival and improve the quality of life of prostate cancer patients’. The president of the Association in Bizkaia highlighted the organisation's commitment to the disease by currently supporting 7 prostate cancer projects at 2 research centres, CIC bioGUNE and UPV/EHU, and allocating more than €1.8 M. 

Asís Canales, Director of Resources and Services at Iberdrola España, pointed out that ‘the collaboration between the Cancer Association and Iberdrola España began in 2015, and since then more than €6 M euros have been raised for both research and improving the quality of life of people with the disease. This year Bilbao, Iberdrola España's head office, is hosting the charity race for the first time and we hope it will be as big a success as it has been in other cities. Iberdrola España encourages people from Bizkaia to sign up, have a healthy time out and contribute to a worthwhile goal. Thank you, Cancer Association. On 8 June, everyone will come together for health and against the disease. It will be a collective success’. 

Koldo Bilbao, Head of Culture at the BBK Banking Foundation, stressed that it has ‘a firm commitment to the welfare and equal opportunities of everyone to build a prosperous, well-integrated, inclusive and sustainable Bizkaia, which drives us to get involved in initiatives such as this’. He also highlighted the role of the Cancer Association in Bizkaia ‘for its work to make this situation visible and to vindicate the important work of research into new treatments and diagnoses’.