Advocacy

• Ensuring at-risk groups have access to funded mammograms
• Continued improvement in access to treatment and care for all New Zealanders
• Development and implementation of NZ guidelines to improve consistency of care
  
• The rolling out of the Breast Cancer Foundation National Register
• Improved access to breast cancer drugs
• Increased access for women to reconstructive surgery.

BCFNZ is a committed member of Cancer Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO), an alliance of eight prominent NZ charities: Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa, Child Cancer Foundation, Hospice New Zealand, Leukaemia & Blood Cancer, Melanoma Foundation and The Cancer Society. The group was formed in 2007 to unite cancer charities, strengthening our anti-cancer efforts.

In November 2023, we welcomed our new Minister of Health and Pacific Peoples, Dr Shane Reti, Associate Ministers of Health, Matt Doocey, Casey Costello and David Seymour (Pharmac only), and Minister of Women, Nicola Grigg.

Take a look at the briefing paper we provided them, outlining what they must do over the next three years to tackle breast cancer and set NZ on a path towards zero deaths.

The General Election is coming up and we want you to know where our political parties stand when it comes to breast cancer.

We surveyed the key parties likely to be represented in the next Parliament with 13 questions relating to breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment. Their responses will be graded and published in our Breast Cancer Policy Scorecard.

Pharmac plans to assess whether to fund Keytruda for triple negative breast cancer in October, so, let’s make our voices heard and make sure it happens.

Show your support by emailing Pharmac by 31st August. We have email templates you can use to craft your submission.

50,000 women are overdue their mammograms after breast screening ground to a halt during the Covid lockdowns. This means hundreds of women could have cancer without knowing it. We are calling on the Government to commit $15 million to urgently clear the backlog and prevent avoidable deaths from breast cancer.

With the help of an expert team from University of Auckland, we’ve analysed data in Te Rēhita Mate Ūtaetae - Breast Cancer Foundation National Register to produce the first and biggest study of its kind.

In our new report, 30,000 voices: Informing a better future for breast cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand, we look at how New Zealand is doing when it comes to breast cancer diagnoses and treatment.

It reveals our five-year survival rates are comparable to other countries. We’ve made significant gains across all ethnicities, ages and regions. But when you look at the 10-year statistics, it becomes obvious that not everyone has benefited to the same extent.

October 2021: At least 133 women across Aotearoa New Zealand have no idea they have breast cancer right now because Covid-19 lockdowns prevented them getting the mammogram that would have diagnosed them. These women are missing from treatment in our health system. This number will grow, as we deal with the fallout of extended lockdowns. We’re petitioning the Government to take urgent action to prevent more women being lost. 

Free mammograms stop at age 69, but your risk of breast cancer is actually higher at 70 than it is at 50. We've been campaigning to raise the upper age limit for free mammograms from 69 to 74, to ensure that women in their early 70s are able to detect breast cancer as early as possible.

We'd like to say a big thank you to the 10,000 caring Kiwis who signed our petition. We presented it, and the evidence for raising the screening age, to the Health Select Committee, and the Government responded by announcing they intend to "progressively increase the age for free breast screening to 74".

This year, about 350 New Zealanders will be told they have advanced breast cancer (ABC) – also called secondary, or Stage 4, or metastatic breast cancer. This is breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body and is incurable. They’ll become part of the constantly changing population of Kiwis living with ABC

In September 2018, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ published “I’m Still Here”, a report offering insight into what’s really happening in ABC care. Following the release of our report, we invited Dr Fatima Cardoso, a world expert in advanced breast cancer, to share her knowledge in New Zealand. Sincethen, we have been advocating to government and health agencies to provide a better deal for Kiwis with ABC, including a presenting a petition to the Health Select Committee for free GP visits for ABC patients.