Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has announced work is well underway to extend free breast screening to women aged 70-74.
Reti said the Government has now met with officials and discussed what would be needed for the screening to be extended.
BreastScreen Aotearoa currently provides a breast screening service for women aged 45 to 69. Eligible women can have a free mammogram every two years to check for breast cancer.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ chairwoman Justine Smythe welcomed today's announcement. She said the foundation had been calling for the breast screening age to be raised to 74 for the past eight years.
"It's fantastic to see work is finally underway on this.
"Our modelling shows that older women who can continue having free mammograms will have a 42% lower risk of dying of breast cancer. We appreciate there’s a lot of preparation needed to get the roll-out underway, and we look forward to hearing more detail as soon as possible."
Reti said the age extension meant women would be eligible for an average of two to three extra mammograms once the programme was fully implemented — about 120,000 additional women eligible every two years.
"Catching more cancers early means better treatment outcomes, and we anticipate an additional 22 lives could be saved every year.
"While we want to move as swiftly as possible, we need to allow the health system to prepare for the roughly 60,000 additional women eligible each year.
"There's a lot to be done in terms of preparation, both human and capital infrastructure. As well as planning for the expansion of existing screening services, Health New Zealand will need to plan for the cancer treatment services required to support the additional women diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
"We know screening works — women who participate in the existing programme are 34 per cent less likely to die from breast cancer.
"Raising the breast cancer screening age will benefit all women including Māori and Pacific peoples who have particularly high rates."
Health resources needed to be prepared for more than the extra numbers of women expected to present for screening. For every 1000 women screened, an estimated 100 would require further assessment. Of those assessed, approximately 10 would require treatment.
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