A change in your body that is new, or has not settled, is a reason to be seen. You can go without knowing what is causing it, and without waiting for a screening appointment to come round.
Key facts
- WHO names the changes that should take a woman to a health worker. That holds whatever her screening history, and whether or not she has been vaccinated against HPV. They are listed on this page.
- Pre-cancerous changes on the cervix rarely cause symptoms (opens in a new tab). Abnormal cells usually take 15 to 20 years to become cancer. That is 5 to 10 years in a woman whose HIV is untreated. That interval is the time in which the change is still treatable.
- WHO AFRO recorded in November 2025 that more than 80% of Ethiopian cervical cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage (opens in a new tab). It attributes this to screening access, awareness and socioeconomic barriers. The figure describes cases that reached a health facility, not every woman with the disease. Going early with a change you have noticed is the part of that a person can act on directly.
- Every change listed on this page has causes other than cancer. They are reasons to be assessed, not signs of a diagnosis.
A symptom and a screening test are two different routes
Screening is offered on the basis of age or another characteristic to people who have noticed nothing. Assessment follows something a person has already noticed. The two do not substitute for one another in either direction. Someone who has noticed a change does not wait for a screening round. Someone who feels entirely well is exactly who screening is designed for.
This matters most for cervical cancer. The changes screening looks for produce no symptoms at all, and can precede cancer by 15 to 20 years. A woman who feels well is not being reassured by feeling well. She is in the interval during which the change is treatable.
Changes that should take a woman to a health worker
WHO names these changes as reasons for a woman to see a health worker. That holds whatever her screening history, and whether or not she has been vaccinated against HPV. The changes are:
- bleeding between periods, after sex, or after the menopause
- vaginal discharge that has increased, or that smells unpleasant
- pain in the back, legs or pelvis that persists
- weight loss, tiredness or loss of appetite that has no explanation
- discomfort in the vagina
- swelling in the legs
Each of these has causes other than cancer. They are listed because they are reasons to be assessed, not because they indicate a diagnosis. Anyone with one of them is better served by being seen than by watching it.
Changes in a breast
Breast cancer sits at the top of Ethiopia’s ranked estimates for 2024, at an estimated 18,840 cases (opens in a new tab). WHO lists a lump or thickening that is often painless. It names a change in the size, shape or look of the breast, and dimpling or redness of the skin. It also names a change in the nipple, unusual or bloodstained fluid, and a sore that does not heal.
The full list, and what to do about it, is on breast awareness.
Changes in bowel habit
Colorectal cancer was third overall in Ethiopia’s 2024 estimates, at 7,372 cases (opens in a new tab), and first among men. WHO lists these as possible symptoms of colorectal cancer (opens in a new tab):
- a change in bowel habit — diarrhoea, constipation, or narrower stools
- blood in the stool, either bright red or dark and tar-like
- cramps, pain or bloating in the abdomen that does not go away
- weight loss that is sudden and has no explanation
- tiredness that does not lift
- iron deficiency anaemia, caused by slow bleeding
WHO notes that colorectal cancer often causes no symptoms, or only mild ones, in its early stages. It also says plainly that anyone who suspects colorectal cancer should speak to a health worker right away.
Changes in breathing or a lasting cough
WHO lists these as possible symptoms of lung cancer (opens in a new tab):
- a cough that does not go away
- chest pain
- shortness of breath
- coughing up blood
- tiredness
- weight loss with no known cause
- chest infections that keep coming back
WHO makes a point worth repeating here. Early symptoms are often mild, and are often taken for an ordinary chest problem. That is one reason lung cancer is frequently found late.
Warning signs in a child
The site had nothing on childhood cancer until now. Leukaemia is fifth by estimated cases in Ethiopia.
WHO names fever, severe and persistent headaches, bone pain and weight loss (opens in a new tab) as warning symptoms of childhood cancer. WHO says these can be recognised by families and by trained primary health-care workers.
Nearly every child with these is not going to have cancer. Fever, headache and pain are among the commonest reasons a child is brought to a health worker at all. Cancer is a rare cause of any of them. They are on this list because they are a reason to have a child seen. That is particularly so when they persist, or when more than one is present. They are not a diagnosis.
Three things WHO states that matter for any parent reading this:
- Most childhood cancers have no known cause. Very few are caused by anything in a child’s surroundings or upbringing. Nothing a parent did or did not do explains them.
- Screening does not generally help for cancer in children, and WHO says there is no good evidence for population screening. Noticing a change and acting on it is the route that works.
- In high-income countries, where services are generally within reach, more than 80% of children with cancer are cured. In most low- and middle-income countries, fewer than 30% are. Both figures are from WHO’s childhood cancer fact sheet. WHO attributes the difference to late or wrong diagnosis, difficulty reaching care, treatment stopping before it is finished, and avoidable relapse. It does not attribute the difference to the disease being different.
WHO’s Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer, launched in 2018, aims for at least 60% survival for all children with cancer by 2030.
The cancers where WHO publishes no symptom list
WHO publishes cancer fact sheets for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and childhood cancer, and a general cancer fact sheet. It publishes none for oesophageal, liver, stomach or prostate cancer. Those four are not covered on this page with a list. No list from a source this site can cite exists for them.
Oesophageal and liver cancer both matter in Ethiopia’s estimates, so the absence is worth naming rather than hiding. What applies to them is the general rule at the top of this page. A change that is new, or that has not settled, is a reason to be seen. For the oesophagus, difficulty or pain in swallowing that persists is the change most often described in clinical practice. That is stated here as practice rather than as a WHO citation, because that is what it is.
When a sourced list becomes available for any of these four, it will be added here.
What this means in Ethiopia
A change that has persisted, or that is new and unexplained, is a reason to be seen. At the point of care, these questions are worth asking. What assessment is available there, what does it involve, and what happens after it? If it is done elsewhere, how far is that, and how long does it take?
The early detection pages cover screening, which is the other route by which a cancer is found.
What you can do
- Take a change you have noticed to a health worker. A change that has not settled is a reason to go back rather than to wait longer.
- Say when it started and whether it has changed since. How long something has been present, and whether it is growing, is usually the first thing you will be asked.
- If you are a woman with any of the changes listed above, do not wait for a screening round. Screening is for women who have noticed nothing; a symptom is a reason to be assessed now.
- Ask what assessment is available where you are seen, and what happens after it. Whether it is done there or elsewhere, and how long it takes, are worth knowing before travelling.