News and Insights
Beyond Pink Ribbons: Why Women Need to Become Their Own Health Advocates
October 27, 2025
Cancer has had a deeply personal impact on my life. I watched my mother fight (and unfortunately lose) the battle to thyroid and neuroendocrine cancer. It was a harsh lesson in how easily women place their own wellbeing last. More recently, my close friend’s experience with aggressive breast cancer at 31 resurfaced the same alarm. It also showed how our healthcare systems often neglect the real needs of women, especially when age or family life demands lead both women and those around them to overlook or downplay their health needs.
Both experiences underlined why conversations about women’s health must move beyond statistics and ribbons, to the realities of advocacy- where every voice, at every age, matters.
Breast Cancer in Asia: The Rising Reality
Across Asia, breast cancer is on the rise among young women, with rates increasing by 2.6% annually for women under 40. In Singapore, one in six women diagnosed with breast cancer is under 45, while across Southeast Asia, Thailand leads with the highest incidence rate among young women, followed by Singapore and Malaysia. It’s not just numbers, it’s the accelerating pace at which young women in fast-growing regional economies are facing cancer diagnoses, with the risk factors ranging from urbanisation, changing lifestyles, persistent family demands, and even access to care.
What’s particularly troubling is that 44% of women across APAC delay or avoid medical treatment due to familial obligations, and six in 10 believe that female diseases are undervalued in healthcare systems. NCDs like breast cancer remain a stubborn obstacle despite rapid advances; true progress demands action beyond technology, and closer alignment between healthcare systems and the realities women live every day- balancing careers, families, and cultural expectations.
The Self-Advocacy Crisis: When Healthcare Systems Fail Women
For too many, symptoms are dismissed or attributed to stress. This ‘medical gaslighting’ means diagnoses often comes later, sometimes only at an advanced stage, because women and healthcare professionals alike overlook the possibility of serious illness at a young age.
Systemic barriers like lack of information and waiting times stand in the way. The common thread in these stories isn’t just the disease – it’s the struggle to be heard, to be taken seriously, and to receive timely, appropriate care. In Southeast Asia, access to screening can vary widely by country and city, and stigma around female diseases still delays early intervention. Add the reality of digital disparities, and you see how every patient journey is shaped by socioeconomic, cultural, and information gaps.
Advocacy in Action: What Can Change?
As health communicators, we have created a culture of pink ribbons and awareness campaigns, but we haven’t taught women to become fierce advocates for their own health. We need to build networks of support, drive community-based action, and amplify the voices of survivors and patients in policymaking, media, and workplace wellness programs.
So, how do we turn awareness into advocacy?
- Create platforms for patient stories and real-life experiences that highlight complexity, not just positive outcomes.
- Support grassroot organisations and local champions who help women access accurate information.
- Push for workplaces, insurers and governments to establish clear pathways for preventive care, second opinions, and mental health support.
- Encourage women, not just to self-examine, but to share concerns openly, seek solidarity, and demand better from both private and public systems.
- Embrace digital innovation to close awareness gaps, helping women in even remote regions understand risk and take charge of their health through telemedicine, online communities, and tailored content.
- Use the right messages to engage communities and challenge stigma, leveraging insights from advocacy campaigns that have shifted behaviour across markets.
Authentic advocacy means collaboration; empowering healthcare professionals to listen more deeply, health communication agencies to humanise their campaigns, and communities to hold leaders accountable for sustained investment in women’s health.
The Future: From Awareness to Real Change
Women’s health in Asia can only improve when every story, of struggle, resilience, advocacy, and change, is welcomed into the conversation. Responsible communications build both trust and resilience, resulting in meaningful health outcomes. Connecting purpose with performance isn’t just good business, it’s essential for the long-term wellbeing of Asia’s women and families.
The evolution we need is clear: shift from passive awareness to powerful advocacy, from quiet worry to public leadership, from individual battles to collective movement.
It’s time to move beyond pink ribbons, beyond a yearly agenda, and create real power for women to advocate for their health, their lives, and their futures.
TAGS: health, Technology
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