About

Ova2you is a community-based organization dedicated to raising awareness about ovarian cancer, promoting research into the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer and supporting women experiencing ovarian cancer.

Ova2you objectives

A professional development program to help GPs diagnose ovarian cancer.

Recurrent funding for at least 2 Research nurses at the Royal Women’s Hospital to facilitate clinical trials into the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.

Funding for a comprehensive national database on cancer occurrences and mortalities.

Grassroots promotion of awareness of symptoms of ovarian cancer.

Important facts about ovarian cancer

Every 11 hours, a woman in Australia dies of ovarian cancer.

One in 70 women develop ovarian cancer in their lifetime.

Every year in Australia about 1500 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and more than 850 die from the disease.

Over half of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will not be alive after five years.

There is no effective early detection or screening program for ovarian cancer. As a consequence when most women are diagnosed their cancer is at an advanced stage, and effective treatment is difficult.

Many women confuse ovarian cancer with cervical cancer, and believe that screening and immunization for that covers them for ovarian cancer. The PAP test does not detect ovarian cancer.

Women with ovarian cancer have a better outcome when they are treated by a gynaecological oncologist.

Over the past two decades there have significant improvements in outcomes for women with many cancers, and particularly breast cancer. For ovarian cancer, however, there have been few breakthroughs in research and very little improvement in treatment and outcomes.

The improvements in breast cancer treatment and research have been powered by the huge breast cancer lobby which has resulted in an avalanche of research funds at basic science, clinical and psycho-social levels. The same attention needs to be mobilized to effect similar improvements in ovarian cancer.

In the UK, two thirds of women cannot name any of the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

The Target Ovarian Cancer Pathfinder Study (June 2009) in the UK identified that many GPs were not aware of the new research on symptoms of ovarian cancer. According to Target Ovarian Cancer's Director of Public Affairs, Frances Reid, "the Target Ovarian Cancer Pathfinder Study in the UK revealed that many GPs still believe what they were taught at medical school – that ovarian cancer is a 'silent killer' with no symptoms in early stage disease. The evidence base has moved on considerably, and we need to help GPs access more up-to-date information that can help them improve the accuracy of their referrals.” A similar issue exists with GPs in Australia.