Of the approximately 3.9 million women alive today with a history of any type of cancer, nearly 20 percent have been diagnosed with a cancer of the reproductive system. The most common gynecologic cancer, cancer of the uterus, will be diagnosed in about 38,000 U.S. women in 2001; although the survival rate is high, African American women are nearly twice as likely to die of their disease than are white women. Cervical cancer, although increasingly less common in the United States due to prevalent early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions, remains a major global health concern, particularly in the developing world. And while ovarian cancer accounts for only 4 percent of women's cancers, it is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women.

The National Cancer Institute convened a Gynecologic Cancers Progress Review Group (PRG) to identify research priorities and resource needs for progress against the gynecologic cancers.