Did you know?

A 2024 report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer indicated 71% of new cases of breast cancer across the globe were diagnosed in individuals age 50 and older. Though age is a known risk factor for various types of cancer, it’s important that women recognize a significant percentage of breast cancer diagnoses in many parts of the world are made in women younger than 50. For example, nearly one in five of breast cancer diagnoses in both North America (18%) and Europe (19%) are made in women younger than 50, while almost half of all breast cancers in Africa (47%) are diagnosed in women who have not yet reached their fiftieth birthdays. Though such figures are affected by a number of variables, including the accessibility of screening procedures like mammograms, they speak to the reality that breast cancer can affect women at any age, a notion that underscores the significance of screening and the need to support efforts to make it more accessible in every corner of the globe.