Today we’re celebrating the culmination of years of work: the launch of the first-ever nationwide awareness campaign including ovarian cancer symptoms. The England-wide campaign will be seen across TV, radio, local billboards and on social media.
Ovarian cancer has historically been overshadowed when it comes to these types of campaigns. Awareness is low, and two thirds of women are diagnosed late, when the cancer is harder to treat. Campaigns like this will change that. Symptoms awareness is a crucial step to ensure that everyone with ovarian cancer is diagnosed at the earliest possible stage.
Since Target Ovarian Cancer was founded in 2009, we've been working toward the creation of nationwide symptoms campaigns to ensure that women know the symptoms to look out for and have worked tirelessly alongside our community to make it happen:
- Our Pathfinder research which found that just 20 per cent of women can name bloating as a symptom of ovarian cancer.
- As secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ovarian Cancer we've worked closely with MPs to keep the need for awareness campaigns on the agenda.
- Our Time is Running Out Campaign on the need for early diagnosis called for awareness campaigns and saw over 14,000 people sign our call to action and over 500 of our campaigners write to their MP.
- We also kept up the pressure up with our most recent report Voices of women with ovarian cancer: the coronavirus pandemic and its impact [PDF] and over 500 of our campaigners called on their MP to take action.
And it worked! Today NHS England is launching a nationwide symptoms campaign focusing on abdominal symptoms. One of the key symptoms highlighted in the campaign is bloating and we're delighted that this message will be reaching more women than ever before.
