Then and now: BCNA’s history of international influence

Paris, 2000.

In the presence of President Jacques Chirac, a collective of 156 cancer advocates, clinicians and leaders from around the world gather in an ornate hall in the Élysée Palace to sign the Paris d'une Charte contre le cancer – the Paris Charter Against Cancer.

Both symbolic and advocacy-driven, the Charter has been created as an international commitment to strengthen cancer prevention and screening, increase investment in medical research, enshrine the rights of patients to better support and information, and recognise the importance of consumer and patient voices in shaping cancer policy and care.

Among the signatories is Lyn Swinburne, the founder of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA).

Lyn is one of only three Australians invited to sign the Charter. In signing it, she takes the lived experiences of Australians with breast cancer to a global platform, where they will guide the decisions of other nations.

As Lyn sits in a gilt chair at a grand table to make her mark on the document, she pauses and smiles for a photo. 

It’s a scenario that Lyn the Melburnian mum and teacher could never have imagined, before 1993. But ever since her breast cancer diagnosis that year, life has been a series of unimaginable experiences, and she’s met each trial and triumph with the integrity and perseverance that has brought her here today.

Fast forward to Geneva, 2025.

Following targeted advocacy led by BCNA, the United Nations has adopted a global Political Declaration on Non-Communicable Diseases – a declaration that explicitly names breast cancer as a key priority in global health commitments.

The decision comes at a time when BCNA is also driving policy change around high genetic risk. When it is working to expand women’s access to breast cancer treatment. When it is shaping new clinical guidelines on breast density screening. And when it is leading a world-first advancement in national visibility for people living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) by encouraging the Australian government to commit to recording the number of Australians living with MBC.

These achievements demonstrate the scope of BCNA’s influence in the years since Lyn signed the Paris Charter Against Cancer. That day, the formerly unheard voices of Australians affected by breast cancer became part of a pledge between nations to improve the global response to cancer.

It’s a pledge that BCNA builds upon, every day, while honouring the legacy of our phenomenal founder, Lyn Swinburne.

Our 2025-2030 strategy is a boldly ambitious 14-page document that outlines BCNA’s vision and objectives for the next five years. While pushing for equitable care and system-wide change, we will expand our position as the go-to for trusted breast cancer information and support – shaped by lived experience for individuals, health professionals and policymakers.