- Conference
- 2013 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 17 October 2012
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, affecting around 6,800 women. It is the highest gynaecological killer of women in the UK and the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women, with two out of every three cases of ovarian cancer being diagnosed when the disease has spread, thus limiting the treatment options.
Survival rates from ovarian cancer are low in the UK, with only 30% of women diagnosed with the disease surviving five years beyond diagnosis. The survival rates have hardly improved over the past twenty years.
There needs to be an improvement in early stage diagnosis techniques and further research in prevention, detection, treatment and cures of ovarian cancer.
In the last eighteen months Ovarian Cancer Action has made tremendous progress and has opened the UK’s first research facility entirely dedicated to ovarian cancer. It has committed over £1m to ovarian cancer research and developed a symptom diary for women and GPs to use to clarify symptoms, to name just a few achievements.
This Conference calls upon the National Women’s Committee to:
1) Support the work of the Ovarian Cancer Research Unit
2) Campaign for research into ovarian cancer to be publicly funded
3) To raise awareness of ovarian cancer by campaigning on this issue
4) To circulate the symptom diary to women members