Ovarian cancer: by 2030 reference centres for 90% of patients

Conference at the ministry, flash mob and exhibition in Piazza del Popolo in Rome: the associations present an agenda with six goals to be achieved

by Health Editor

8 May 2026

Doctor consulting patient hands closeup. Patient sitting at doctor office. Diagnostic, prevention of women diseases, healthcare, medical service, consultation or education, healthy lifestyle concept Liudmila Dutko - stock.adobe.com

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The importance of specialised care
Equal access to care
Diagnostic Delay
Promoting scientific research
Public events

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

More care in specialised facilities, activation of prevention pathways, definition of regional reference centres, availability of national minimum standards for access to treatment pathways, increased funding for research, and more attention to quality of life. The goal: to make ovarian cancer a public health priority, with measurable goals, definite timeframes, and verifiable responsibilities. This is the message at the heart of World Ovarian Cancer Day, celebrated today in Rome in the Auditorium of the Ministry of Health and with public events in Piazza del Popolo. During the meeting, the first National Commitment Agenda for Women with Ovarian Cancer was presented, promoted by the Insieme di Insiemi campaign, conceived by the patient associations ACTO Italia, LOTO, aBRCAdabra, ALTo and Mai più sole, with the scientific groups MITO and MANGO, and under the patronage of AIOM, the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition and the Ovarian Cancer Committee.

The importance of specialised care

"Every day, in Italia, 15 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, for a total of more than 5,400 diagnoses each year: the structure in which they choose to be followed is fundamental in order to be able to benefit from the best treatments," explains Sandro Pignata, founder of the MITO Group and director of medical oncology in the department of Uro-gynaecology at Pascale Napoli. Unfortunately, however, 73% of patients are not aware of the importance of specialised, high-volume care, and believe that any clinical or hospital facility can guarantee the same quality of care'. This is unfortunately not the case, which is why, according to Pignata, there are facilities that are more dedicated to the treatment of this neoplasm and can guarantee much more effective care with high volumes. This is why, according to Pignata, 'it is essential that all regions identify reference centres for ovarian cancer, guaranteeing patients an increasingly centralised and multidisciplinary pathway. The goal is that by 2028 75 per cent of cases of ovarian cancer will be treated in a specialised facility, reaching at least 90 per cent by 2030'.

Guaranteeing equitable access to care

"High specialisation must not be a privilege, but the standard for every patient," adds Sandra Balboni, president of LOTO OdV. "The ovarian cancer treatment pathway must be based on structured oncology networks, centres with proven expertise, and multidisciplinary pathways capable of accompanying the woman from diagnosis to follow-up, ensuring timeliness, continuity, and support."

Alongside the centralisation of care, the Agenda calls for equity of access. Indeed, territorial differences continue to affect patients' ability to receive timely diagnoses, appropriate tests, innovative therapies and comprehensive care pathways.

"The right to treatment cannot depend on the region in which one lives," emphasises Ilaria Bellet, president of ACTO Italia. "Today, personalised medicine requires timely and homogeneous access to drugs, genetic, molecular and immunohistochemical tests, including those necessary to identify relevant therapeutic targets, such as the folate receptor when clinically indicated. National standards, maximum waiting times, therapeutic continuity and certified laboratory networks are needed. And we also need clearer and more transparent access to clinical trials: for many women they represent not just research, but a real possibility of treatment."

Another focal point of the Agenda concerns the pathways for individuals and families with hereditary risk, calling for genetic testing, counselling, surveillance and, when indicated, risk-reducing surgeries to be guaranteed uniformly throughout the country.

The diagnostic delay

"Ovarian cancer remains one of the neoplasms with the highest mortality rate, not least because of the diagnostic delay, clinical complexity, and territorial inequalities in access to treatment," says Paolo Scollo, rector of the 'Kore' University of Enna. "In the absence of early diagnosis programmes for the healthy population, the 2025 LEA update, which introduced a programme for BRCA-related hereditary breast-ovarian cancers, is an important step. However, it must now be made fully operational in all regions, guaranteeing free of charge, homogeneous pathways, access to testing and genetic counselling, surveillance in competent centres, exemptions from co-payments and access to risk-reducing surgery."

"On eredo-family risk, we can no longer accept such a fragmented and inequitable national framework," says Ornella Campanella, president of aBRCAdabra. "Individuals and families with a genetic alteration, such as BRCA1 or BRCA2, must be able to count, wherever they live, on clear, accessible and fully enforceable testing, genetic counselling, surveillance in competent centres and risk reduction pathways, overcoming dangerous delays and ambiguities."

Promoting scientific research

Research remains another essential point. "It is the engine of change," says Maria Teresa Cafasso, president of ALTo Lotta al Tumore Ovarico. "We need stable investments, fewer bureaucratic obstacles, faster authorisation times, and a smoother transition from innovation to clinical practice. Every delay weighs on patients' lives."

But for innovation to really translate into cure, it must be accompanied by clear, accessible and ongoing information. In ovarian cancer, in fact, knowledge of symptoms, risk factors, and referral pathways can make a difference in the timing of diagnosis and access to the most appropriate treatment.

"The first tool that can reduce diagnostic delays in ovarian cancer is information," emphasises Anna Fagotti, director of the Ovarian Cancer Unit at the Policlinico Gemelli in Rome. "Today there is no effective screening aimed at the general population, and the disease often presents itself with vague and non-specific symptoms that can be underestimated. The goal is for all regions to carry out at least one annual information campaign by 2030, in partnership with patient associations, which are always in the front row in devising initiatives to stimulate public awareness. In addition to correct lifestyles, several other conditions can also increase the risk of developing this disease, such as infertility, no pregnancy or a first child over the age of 35. This is all information to which the public should have easy and frequent access'.

Among the Agenda's objectives is the stable integration of psychological, psycho-oncological, social, rehabilitation and care support into the treatment pathways.

"Quality of life is not an ancillary issue and does not come after the cure: it is part of the cure," concludes Valentina Ligas, secretary of Mai più sole. Women must be able to count on psychological, psycho-oncological, social and rehabilitation support, but also on structured attention to affective-sexual wellbeing, too often neglected in the course of treatment."

Public events

In addition to the institutional conference - made possible by the non-binding contribution of Abbvie, AstraZeneca, GSK, MSD and Pharma& - the day saw a strong involvement of the population. In Piazza del Popolo, where on the occasion of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia was organised the great Tennis&Friends Salute e Sport event, realised in collaboration with AIOM (Italian Association of Medical Oncology), Salute Lazio Asl Rm1 and Policlinico A. Gemelli, a flash mob took place that saw 15 empty chairs, covered only with a teal green ribbon, the colour of ovarian cancer, being occupied by representatives of patient associations, in a silent initiative with the intention of drawing attention to this often invisible pathology and symbolising the 15 women who receive a diagnosis every day.

Throughout the day, also in Piazza del Popolo, there was the land art exhibition Labia, mothers of love, by Mattia Putzu of Studio Udine Scannella, promoted by Acto Sicilia to support women who, due to ovarian cancer, cannot carry a pregnancy but are interested in fostering and adoption: numerous blankets, handmade by patients, were arranged along the square to remind us that motherhood can overcome biology.

To underline the importance of this cancer, the Ministry of Health and numerous other Italian buildings and monuments were illuminated in Rome, Avellino, Campobasso, Grottaferrata, Frascati, Matera, Messina, Milan, Montalbano Jonico, Paestum, Palermo, Policoro, Pompei, Santa Maria Capua a Vetere, Salerno, Sassari, Scanzano Jonico, Turin and Udine.