On May 8th we use World Ovarian Cancer Day as an opportunity to raise awareness of ovarian cancer – in particular ovarian cancer in younger women, and our global research.
This year’s campaign involved 35 women, over 350 billboards (including 2 of the most iconic billboards in the world), in the United Kingdom and New York (including a 300ft long space), TV, print and radio media coverage across 3 countries (UK, NZ and Canada) and over 11 000 social media views.
In New Zealand we used the coverage to build on our March parliament petition campaign – drawing attention to the lack of ovarian cancer awareness nationally, and the lack of government funding for essential services including education, treatments and research. View coverage on TVNZ and the Otago Daily Times.
Globally we used it as an opportunity to highlight our global research on low-grade serous ovarian cancer – the fourth most common type of ovarian cancer, which disproportionately affects younger women, has poor survival and to date has received little attention or research. Read coverage in The Independent.
Ovarian cancer is the 5th most common cause of female cancer death in New Zealand and over 300 000 women will be diagnosed globally each year. In 1970 the survival rates for ovarian cancer and prostate cancer were similar, now prostate cancer’s 5 year survival rates are over twice as good. It is crucial that we resource ovarian cancer appropriately to see comparable improvements in survival.
This year’s campaign was generously made possible by organisations and companies who donated their time, services and advertising space free of charge to help us share this crucial message.
Visit our World Ovarian Cancer Day site to learn more about the day.