Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an international health campaign that’s held every October. The month aims to promote screening and prevention of the disease, which affects 2.3 million women worldwide.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, making up 15% of all new cases. A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 10 minutes and a man every day. And if nothing is done to change this, by 2040, a woman will be diagnosed every 8 minutes.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
Checking your breasts for any unusual changes can help discover breast cancer early. It’s important to recognise when something’s not right.
Cancer screening involves testing healthy people for early signs of cancer. Breast screening uses a test called mammography which involves taking x-rays of the breasts. Screening can help to find breast cancers early when they are too small to see or feel. These cancers are usually easier to treat than larger ones. Overall, the breast screening programme finds cancer in around 9 out of every 1,000 women having screening.
