Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an international health campaign that's held every October. The month aims to promote screening and reduce the risk of the disease, which affects 2.3 million women worldwide. Known best for its pink theme color, the month features several campaigns and programs designed to: 

  • Raise money for breast cancer research 

In the month of October, there are also specific dates designed to raise awareness of specific groups within the breast cancer community. 

The event began in 1985 as a week-long awareness campaign by the American Cancer Society, in partnership with Imperial Chemical Industries, a British company that made tamoxifen. The campaign eventually grew into a month-long event.  

In 1992, the pink ribbon came into play after Alexandra Penney, SELF magazine's editor-in-chief, partnered with Evelyn Lauder, Estée Lauder's senior corporate vice president and a breast cancer survivor, to distribute pink ribbons after the magazine's second annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month issue. 

Other variations of the pink ribbon have emerged in recent years to raise awareness that all people with breast cancer are not the same. These include ribbons for raising awareness about metastatic breast cancer, men with breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer, and more. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month can be a good reminder to learn more about breast cancer. Some good places to start might be examining your personal risk of developing the disease, giving yourself a breast exam, and scheduling your next breast cancer screenings. 

People of every country, race, ethnic group, and income level are affected by breast cancer. In the U.S., the percentage of women diagnosed with breast cancer has been slowly rising for the past couple of decades. 

  • A woman in the U.S. today has a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer over her lifetime and a 1 in 43 chance of dying from breast cancer. 
  • Nearly 30% of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer later develop metastatic breast cancer. 
  • Lesbian, gay, and bisexual cisgender women may have a higher risk of breast cancer than heterosexual women due to risk factors like fewer childbirths and higher alcohol use. 
  • The average lifetime risk that a man in the U.S. will develop breast cancer is 1 in 726. 
  • Transfeminine people taking gender-affirming hormone therapy, including estrogen, are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer than cisgender men. 
  • There are about 4 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S., including women receiving breast cancer treatment. 
  • While the percentage of women dying from breast cancer has gone down in recent decades, Black women remain more likely to die from breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group.  
Things to do this Breast Cancer Awareness Month:  
  • If you know someone who is living with breast cancer or has been affected by the disease, check in with them to ask them how they're doing. 
  • Schedule your annual mammogram. Encourage your friends and family to do the same. 
  • Learn more about breast cancer and how it affects people's lives from Breastcancer.org's news, educational content, podcasts, and more. 
  • Join community discussion forums to ask questions or connect with others. Breastcancer.org also hosts multiple virtual support groups each week. 
  • If you'd like to support breast cancer research and programs that support people living with breast cancer, consider donating directly to organizations that do this work. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month can be a good reminder to learn more about breast cancer. Some good places to start might be examining your personal risk of developing the disease, giving yourself a breast exam, and scheduling your next breast cancer screenings.