International Women's Day is not only a day to celebrate women, but one to discuss issues affecting mainly women.
BC Cancer says one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime.
Operations Director with the breast screening program Janette Sam says, "We're only at our best when we're taking care of ourselves first and foremost. That means taking care of our preventative health care and really making sure we are being as healthy and as fit as we can, so that we can go out and make a difference in the world."
Sam says that includes going for regular breast screenings, colon screenings, and pap tests.
"It's important to support each other, and I think it's helpful to ask your friends, 'Are you up to date with your screenings? Can I support you? Should we make our appointments together maybe and support each other and get these things done that way?'"
Sam says it's important to catch any illness early. "It is really helpful for a woman when she is able to find any type of issues early, because it really means she's going to have a lot more treatment options available to her. If the tumour is found when it's small she might not need as extensive surgery and she might have more treatment options available to her."
Just over 26,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in Canada, 5,000 die from it.