The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Professor Dame Sally Davies is calling for action on a wide range of women’s health issues – most notably obesity, ovarian cancer and ‘taboo problems’ such as incontinence and the menopause. The report highlights the fact that the UK has one of the lowest survival rates in the OECD nations for ovarian cancer and warns that obesity is the biggest threat to women's health and the health of future generations.
In England, 56% of women aged 35 to 44 and 62% of women aged 45 to 54 were classified as overweight or obese in 2013. In her latest annual report, ‘Health of the 51%: women’, Professor Dame Sally Davies commented that the growing obesity problem is so serious that the Government should tackle the issue in its national risk plans and make it a top priority.
As obese women have an increased chance of miscarriage and premature birth, the report highlights planning for pregnancy as an important missed opportunity to give women health messages to improve their mental and physical health and that of their children.
She commented: “In women, obesity can affect the outcomes of any pregnancies they have and the health of any future children they may have. This is a difficult message to convey, as it risks burdening women with guilt and responsibility, but I believe that it can also empower women to take positive steps like eating more healthily and taking more exercise. It is never too late to take action for a healthier lifestyle.”
The CMO report also examines women’s cancers, particularly ovarian cancer – the second most common gynaecological cancer. Survival in England and the UK is among the lowest in the OECD nations, with five-year survival rates around 36%.
The report calls for a national audit of ovarian cancer to improve outcomes for the disease. It also highlights the benefits of better surgery – often meaning longer operating times – for ovarian cancer. Operating times of over three hours are more successful in removing the cancer cells compared to operating times of less than three hours.
Dame Sally said: “Deaths from ovarian cancer are still stubbornly high – a national audit of ovarian cancer is surely long overdue given the numbers of deaths we are seeing from this silent killer. We have seen such audits improve outcomes for lung, bowel, head and neck cancers and I want to see the same happen for ovarian cancer.”
To download the full report visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484383/cmo-report-2014.pdf
