Budget 2023: "It’s hard to see how the Government is serious about its women’s health strategy"

This morning, our CEO Ah-Leen Rayner, and Bette Cosgrove, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, were interviewed by Three's AM at Parliament. They spoke about how appalling it is that one woman every month has needlessly lost her life to breast cancer since the Government promised in 2017 to extend the screening age to 74 - and yet Government still refuses to implement this change. 

With no money allocated for breast screening in its Budget this afternoon, the Government has shown it still doesn’t see the age extension as a priority.

Responding to the Budget announcement, Ah-Leen said: “It’s hard to see how the Government is serious about its women’s health strategy when this Budget has nothing in it for women’s health – let alone breast cancer.

“In this cost of living crisis, the continued refusal to extend the screening age shows the Government expects our older women to continue paying for a life-saving service which should be freely available to them. Extending the breast screening programme to 74 is a solution for the immediate problem of women needlessly dying from breast cancer, yet the Government still won’t see this as a priority.

“With no new money for Pharmac, New Zealand remains at the bottom of the OECD on drug funding. This Budget leaves hundreds of desperate women with incurable breast cancer unable to access medicines that could give them more years to live.”