Funding allocated for cervical, breast cancer prevention
At-home tests for cervical cancer will be available in two years thanks to a women’s health funding boost.
The test for human papillomavirus (HPV) will also be done every five years rather than three, if a woman tests negative.
Health Minister Andrew Little and Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced yesterday that the Government’s 2021 Budget will fund more effective screening tests for cervical cancer and breast cancer.
Investment of $53 million will enable the design and implementation of a new, simpler test for human papillomavirus, which could have 1.4 million eligible women doing the self-test at home by 2023.
This comes after a call from experts and the public for selfs-wabbing to become the norm, reignited by Cabinet minister Kiri Allan’s diagnosis with cervical cancer in early April.
The move from smear tests to better HPV-based screening which women can do at home, was first promised in 2017, and attempts to get the programme funded in 2018, 2019 and again in 2020 were rejected.
Speaking at Kokiri Marae in Lower Hutt yesterday, Verrall said: ‘‘Every year, about 160 women develop cervical cancer and about 50 die from it. This is a tragedy as almost all cases are preventable or can be treated if they are found at an early stage.’’
Clinical modelling predicted the change would prevent an additional 400 cervical cancers in 17 years, saving about 138 additional lives.
A third of these are expected to be wāhine Māori. Allan called it ‘‘life-saving’’ and a ‘‘game changer’’.
Verrall said this kind of testing, which was already in place in Australia, the United Kingdom,
Ireland, and several other European countries, was also shown to be more effective.
A vaginal swab could be taken by the woman herself or by a clinician, without the use of a speculum, and those who tested negative would only need to be screened every five years instead of three.
Verrall said the Ministry of Health would also consider future options to increase the accessibility of cervical screening, which could include options to post out self-testing kits.
The investment would also fund a new IT system, crucial to the programme, and support and educate medical staff.
The programme would be rolled out from 2023, ‘‘however, it is really important that women who are due for screening continue to follow the existing process rather than waiting for the new test’’, Verrall said.
Funding will also be used to
design a new breast screening system that can proactively identify and enrol eligible women to reach 271,000 more people who are not currently in the programme.
‘‘We have been calling for an opt-out approach to screening, so this is an excellent step forward,’’ chief executive of Breast Cancer Foundation NZ Ah-Leen Rayner said. ‘‘With more than 650 Kiwi women still dying from breast cancer every year, and with wāhine Māori being 65 per cent more likely to die than Pākehā, knowing who is missing out on mammograms is vital.’’ The foundation would continue to push the Government for the extension of free mammograms to age 74, up from 69, which the Government committed to back in 2017.
An estimated 3300 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, 350 of whom will be aged between 70 and 74.