Poor investment in gynaecological cancer research leading to 'crisis for women', experts warn

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new report is blaming late diagnosis and a lack of treatment for poor survival rates for women diagnosed with gynaecological cancers. Women's health campaigners are calling for more investment from government - saying chronic underinvestment in research, has led to a crisis for women.

Transcript

00:01Remind me who's got early morning tomorrow.

00:05No.

00:06Ali Crawford is a busy mum to three teenagers.

00:09I'm over 360.

00:12In 2022, the 51-year-old discovered she had a rare uterine cancer.

00:22Eight and a half weeks it took for diagnosis.

00:25My time stood still.

00:28I used everything that I knew to cope every day.

00:33And then I had to, at three o'clock, be normal mum.

00:41Her treatment is ongoing and has involved multiple surgeries

00:44and 11 cycles of chemotherapy.

00:47Ali doesn't know how long she has to live.

00:50She feels precious time was wasted just getting a diagnosis.

00:55Everything was held up in getting scans.

00:58But I knew I had a ticking time bomb in my pelvis.

01:02It was a very confusing time.

01:06Hello.

01:07How are you?

01:08Ali Crawford.

01:09Pleasure to see you.

01:10Thank you so much.

01:11In the lead up to the election,

01:12150 terminally ill women and their supporters are visiting their local MPs,

01:18campaigning for more funding for gynaecological cancers.

01:21A commitment of a hundred million.

01:23Yeah.

01:24Handing over a new report from the Australian New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group

01:28that's found women are unnecessarily dying because of a chronic lack of investment

01:34and their symptoms are not being taken seriously.

01:37When I read the stark realities of that report, I was completely kind of a mixture of devastated,

01:45but also now understood why we were in this position.

01:50The survival rates are as poor as the survival rates for all cancers 50 years ago.

01:55When we add in other drugs, there's a good interaction.

01:58Professor Claire Scott is a scientist and medical oncologist.

02:02I believe that there hasn't been an improvement in survival because we simply don't know enough

02:07about these very rare cancers.

02:09We need more research and more clinical trials and that requires more support and more awareness.

02:15The report reveals 23 women will be diagnosed with a gynaecological cancer each day by 2035.

02:23These include ovarian, uterine, endometrial, cervical, vaginal and vulval cancers.

02:29For nearly two decades, these have been the poorest funded cancers.

02:33The group is calling for a $100 million commitment over the next four years from the government

02:38to improve treatment and research.

02:43In Northern Tasmania, Alex Neville thought her symptoms were part of menopause

02:48when they appeared in 2020 and struggled to get a diagnosis.

02:52I'd never, ever heard, actually never heard of endometrial cancer beforehand.

02:57I didn't know that abnormal bleeding was a sign, so I didn't know to be concerned.

03:03Nothing can prepare you for hearing those words.

03:06Alex is also part of the campaign for more funding, and she's passing on her experience

03:10to the next generation of doctors through a Survivors Teaching Students program,

03:15raising awareness for the importance of recognising symptoms.

03:19If we get it early enough, the outcome for endometrial cancer is really positive.

03:23We've got to get it early enough.

03:26Alex has endured 27 rounds of radiation, 13 chemotherapy cycles,

03:32immunotherapy and clinical trials.

03:35She also doesn't know how long she'll live.

03:38Involvement in the clinical trials is fabulous because it will buy me extra time,

03:42but what I'm also doing is I'm adding to science, I'm adding to knowledge.

03:46So what I'm doing now as a clinical trial will hopefully be a first-line treatment

03:50for a woman in the future.

03:52I need to believe that I can hang on long enough for the science to get back on track.

04:02I want to approach this with hope, not fear.

04:12To be continued...

04:14...

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