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Following years of campaigning for the breast screening
age to be raised to 74, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ (BCFNZ)
is welcoming Dr Shane Reti’s Private Member’s Bill
proposing to amend the Pae Ora (Health Futures) Act to
include breast screening within the Women’s Health
Strategy.
“Extending free breast screening to women
up to 74 is something we’ve been talking to all political
parties about for a number of years, so we’re thrilled to
finally see some action to make it happen – this bill goes
to show where there’s a will, there’s a way,” says
Justine Smyth, chair of BCFNZ.
“It’s undisputable
that funding mammograms for women to 74 will reduce deaths
from breast cancer. We hope this bill gets the parliamentary
support it deserves, because it would send the message that
the lives of our older women are worth saving.”
Each
year around 240 New Zealand women aged 70-74 are diagnosed
with breast cancer (around 7% of all diagnoses) and around
65 will die. International evidence shows mammograms are
still beneficial for women in their 70s, but the lack of
availability of screening for over 70s in New Zealand means
their survival rates are poorer. The Ministry of Health has
noted extending breast screening to 74 would reduce deaths
in this age group by at least a third.
BCFNZ has been
campaigning since 2016 to get the breast screening age
raised to 74, when it handed a 10,000-strong petition to
Jacinda Ardern. The 2017 Labour/NZ First coalition agreement
committed to the age extension but it has yet to be
implemented.
Over the past year, the charity has
raised the issue with the Prime Minister, Health Ministers,
MPs, the Ministry of Health, Health NZ and BreastScreen
Aotearoa. In December 2021, Act Party Deputy Leader Brooke
van Velden accepted the charity’s 10,600-strong petition
calling for the restoration and extension of the breast
screening programme, and BCFNZ was invited to present this
to the Petitions Select
Committee.
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