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

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new report has laid bare the chronic lack of funding and poor survival rates for women with cancer of the reproductive system. There has been advances in survival rates for all cancers in the past 50 years, but more women are dying form gynaecological cancers because of late diagnosis and a lack of treatment options. National Health reporter Elise Worthington met the women hoping to survive long enough for science to catch-up and prolong their lives.

Transcript

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

00:07Ali Crawford is a busy mum to three teenagers.

00:13In 2022, the 51-year-old discovered she had a rare uterine cancer.

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

00:26My time stood still.

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

00:34And then I had to at three o'clock be normal mum.

00:41Her treatment is ongoing and has involved multiple surgeries and 11 cycles of chemotherapy.

00:48Ali doesn't know how long she has to live.

00:51She feels precious time was wasted just getting a diagnosis.

00:56Nothing 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?

01:08How are you?

01:09Ali Crawford.

01:10Lovely to see you.

01:11Thank you so much.

01:12Made up to the election, 150 terminally ill women and their supporters are visiting their

01:16local MPs, campaigning for more funding for gynaecological cancers.

01:21A commitment of 100 million.

01:23Yeah.

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

01:29found women are unnecessarily dying because of a chronic lack of investment and their symptoms

01:35are not being taken seriously.

01:38When I read the stark realities of that report I was completely kind of a mixture of devastated

01:46but 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.

01:59Professor 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.

02:16The 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 dollar commitment over the next four years from the

02:38government to improve treatment and research.

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

02:48appeared 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 to

03:11the next generation of doctors through a Survivors Teaching Students program, raising awareness

03:16for the importance of recognising symptoms.

03:19If we get it early enough the outcome for endometrial cancer is really positive, but you've got to

03:24get it early enough.

03:27Alex has endured 27 rounds of radiation, 13 chemotherapy cycles, immunotherapy and clinical

03:34trials.

03:36She also doesn't know how long she'll live.

03:39Involvement in the clinical trials is fabulous because it will buy me extra time, but what

03:44I'm also doing is I'm adding to science, I'm adding to knowledge.

03:47So what I'm doing now as a clinical trial will hopefully be a first line treatment for a woman

03:51in the future.

03:53I need to believe that I can hang on long enough for the science to get back on track.

04:03I want to approach this with hope, not fear.

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