Take Charge of Your Health this International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day (IWD). This year, the focus is on the need to Accelerate Action. Today – like every day – we’re calling for accelerated action to address the barriers and biases that women face, especially in healthcare, by empowering you to take charge of your health.

Did you know that around 56,000 women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis every year? That’s over 150 cases every day! To put that into another context, 1 in 7 women in the UK will receive a breast cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Think about how many women you have in your life that may be affected by breast cancer and the pain of going through diagnosis and treatment.

Is it possible to take charge of our health?

In 2021, the House of Lords shared that the UK has the largest female health gap in the G20 and the 12th largest globally. But what if we were to tell you that there are ways in which you and the women around you may be able to improve your health and, therefore, reduce your risk of breast cancer?

In 2019, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and their ‘Better for Women’ report, focused on improving the health and wellbeing of girls and women. The report revealed several themes that were common to each stage of women’s lives:

• Women cannot always find accurate information
• The NHS remains largely an intervention service, not a prevention service, and opportunities are often missed to empower girls and women
• Many women’s healthcare services are fragmented and difficult to access

At Breast Cancer UK, our mission is to empower people to reduce their risk of breast cancer and take charge of their health through digestible and accessible advice. Although not all breast cancer cases can be prevented, studies have shown that by making lifestyle changes, we may be able to reduce our risk.

It is estimated that at least 30% of breast cancer cases may be preventable. This is equivalent to around 17,000 cases each year. A staggering figure and one that we want to support women to understand more. This way, we can take charge of our health and ‘Accelerate Action’ against breast cancer together.

What do we mean when we say “at least 30% of breast cancer cases can be prevented”?

At Breast Cancer UK, when we talk about preventing breast cancer, we are referring to those small steps and changes we can take to make healthier lifestyle choices that ultimately can reduce our level of risk. For instance, being active on a regular basis, eating a balanced diet, being aware of harmful chemicals in everyday products and swapping alcoholic drinks for non-alcoholic alternatives.

For example, did you know that around 8% of female breast cancer cases may be linked to alcohol consumption? That’s around 4,400 cases a year. So, if we as individuals could change our behaviours with alcohol (as well as the Government providing an up-to-date Alcohol Strategy), we could reduce our risk and change this percentage.

We need more than screening

The idea of preventing breast cancer isn’t just about national screening programmes. There is a whole lot more to the meaning of prevention. This is important in leading the way to reducing our levels of risk.

However, prevention isn’t easy as it requires people to act and make those key behavioural changes. It can take anything from 18 to 254 days to create a habit. Behaviour changes then become automatic, on average, at around 66 days*. That can feel like a long time and requires people to be committed to the change.

One element that plays a huge part in that commitment is knowledge. Without understanding why you are making a behaviour change it can be hard to sustain before it becomes second nature. That’s where working together with the women around you can be beneficial to the success of reducing your breast cancer risk.

How can we take charge?

As we know from the statistics, breast cancer cases are not reducing. It remains one of the most common cancers in women to date. But from the research we can see there are some ways in which we can change this. Think about how great it would be for more women to not have to hear a breast cancer diagnosis within their lifetime! Together, we can act against breast cancer and save lives through prevention.

A good place to start is our Breast Cancer UK website. This holds key information, guides, blogs and tools to help you to understand the importance of making these lifestyle changes. The information provided gives an insight into the science behind risk factors. This includes which ones we can and can’t change, and how lifestyles can impact our breast cancer risk. Through a variety of resources, we want to empower women to have that knowledge to help them on their journey for change and reduce theirs and their loved one’s risk of breast cancer.

And it can all start today, with some initial actions you and the women in your life can do:

1. Take a look at our Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer section
2. Take our Breast Cancer Prevention Quiz to get your personalised prevention plan
3. Start looking at ways you can incorporate being more active in your daily life
4. Think about making small swaps. For instance, changing your plastic lunch box to a glass one.
5. Download the YUKA app to check your cosmetics for harmful chemicals.
6. As 1 in 7 women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis, speak to 7 of your friends and share information on how they can reduce their risk of breast cancer. We can do this together!

Small steps make a difference

Although there is a lot of information, acting for breast cancer does not need to feel overwhelming. Even the smallest of swaps, or a simple conversation with friends over a coffee can make a huge impact. Together, through knowledge, behaviour change and the right tools we can accelerate action to ensure that women in the UK are empowered take charge of their health this International Women’s Day and beyond.

Key References

• Cancer Research UK, Risk Factors for Breast Cancer, https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/risks-causes/risk-factors (accessed 10th February 2025)
• Breast Cancer UK, About Breast Cancer Facts and Figures, https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/about-breast-cancer/facts-figures-and-qas/facts-and-figures (accessed 10th February 2025)
• Healthline.com, How long does it take for a new behaviour to become automatic, https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-form-a-habit (accessed 11th February 2025).
• Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Better for women, https://www.rcog.org.uk/media/h3smwohw/better-for-women-full-report.pdf (accessed 11th February 2025).
• Manual, The men’s health gap, https://www.manual.co/mens-health-gap (accessed 11th February 2025).

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