International Women's Day 2016

2 minute read time.

FormerMember

8 Mar 2016

Today is International Women’s Day. To mark the day, we highlight the most common cancers for women in the UK, look at the different cancers that only affect women, and point you in the direction of our information and support…

The most common cancers for women in the UK

The three most common cancers for women in the UK are breast cancer, lung cancer and bowel cancer. These three cancers make up more than half of all female cases of cancer in the UK.¹

Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in the UK. Around a third of all female cases of cancer in the UK are breast cancer.

Watch Karen's story on living with breast cancer:

The second most common cancer for women in the UK is lung cancer. There are two main types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer for women in the UK. There are different types of bowel cancer. We’ve got information on colon cancer (part of the large bowel), rectal cancer (the lower part of the large bowel), small bowel cancer, and anal cancer.

Watch Eileen's story on living with bowel cancer:

Women's cancers

There are different types of cancer that only affect women. These cancers affect different parts of women’s reproductive systems. They are known as gynaecological cancers.

The gynaecological cancers are:

Cervical cancer
Ovarian cancer (cancer of the ovary)
Womb cancer (also called endometrial or uterine cancer)
Vulva cancer
Vagina cancer

Watch Nicola's story on living with cervical cancer:

Visit our website for more information and support on all types of cancer, cancer diagnosis, organising your work and finances, and coping with and after cancer treatment.

¹ Cancer Research UK, The 10 Most Common Cancers in Females, UK, 2013

To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.

We're with you every step of the way

The Macmillan team is here to help. Our cancer support specialists can answer your questions, offer support, or simply listen if you need a chat. Call us free on 0808 808 00 00.

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Keep in touch Follow Macmillan’s cancer information team on Twitter @mac_cancerinfo

FormerMember over 8 years ago

THanks for the International Women's Day post. Really interesting reading. Can I highlight the fourth most common cancer affecting women? It is womb cancer. Very under researched with less than £400 per diagnosis spent on womb cancer and on the rise, driven largely by the increasing number of women with a high BMI and changing practice about hysterectomy. Yet many women are unaware of womb cancer.

It is time for a new focus on gynae cancers and gynae health overall. We all know the importance of checking our breasts but how many women are aware of the signs and symptoms of gynae cancers? Too many women receive late diagnoses in gynae cancer, particularly in ovarian cancer, because we do not know the signs and symptoms and too many doctors do not recognise them either.

Just saying..
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FormerMember over 8 years ago

Thanks, daloni.

And, yes, the more women who are aware of the symptoms of womb cancer and what to look out for, the better. Especially as the earlier womb cancer is picked up, the more likely it is to be cured.

You might also be interested in the activities to raise awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (March). And watch this space as we're planning an info team blog on ovarian cancer next week...

Matthew
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