Cure Our Ovarian Cancer is honoured to be invited to take part in a global expert panel discussion on rare ovarian cancers.
The talk is taking place as part of the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition (WOCC) Annual Partner Meeting. The WOCC works with ovarian cancer organisations around the world and conducts independent reports with the goal of a creating a world where every woman with ovarian cancer has the best chance of survival, and the best quality of life – wherever she may live.
Despite the name – rare ovarian cancers aren’t very rare. As many as 1 in 3 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer have a rare form of the disease. While significant inequities exist for all ovarian cancer, rarer ovarian cancers face further barriers when it comes to research and accessing good care.
The work we do in New Zealand is incredibly important but as a small organisation we are also really proud of the global impact we have been able to have in the rare ovarian cancer space. Work that benefits women internationally but also those diagnosed in New Zealand.
Our rare ovarian cancer work focusses specifically on low-grade serous carcinoma – a difficult to treat ovarian cancer that disproportionately affects younger women. Though it is “rare” – globally 40,000 to 180,000 women are currently living with this specific ovarian cancer.
Our work with this rare ovarian cancer community focusses on empowering women with the disease to have impact within their own communities and countries – by supporting researchers working specifically on their cancer and working with global experts to improve the quality of information available to help more women access appropriate care.
We are really keen to share our learnings with other ovarian cancer organisations around the world and demonstrate how despite being a small organisation on the other side of the world – by thinking smart and strategically it has been possible for our work to have global impact.
Further information about the event: https://worldovariancancercoalition.org/our-work/22-partner-meeting