The Prostate Cancer Foundation NZ says the Government’s decision to expand free cervical screening provides an opportunity to ask an equally important question for Kiwi men — why not test whether a targeted prostate cancer screening programme could save lives too?
Foundation Chief Executive Peter Dickens is pushing the case for a prostate cancer screening pilot, arguing New Zealand needs an evidence-based pathway towards earlier and more equitable detection of the country’s most commonly diagnosed cancer among men.
The Foundation wants the Government to invest $6.4 million over four years in a targeted pilot in Tairāwhiti and Waitematā, designed to establish whether an organised screening approach could ultimately be expanded nationally.
The call follows the Government’s move to make cervical screening free for eligible people aged 25 to 69 from March 2027 and comes as New Zealand continues investing in breast and bowel screening and developing a lung cancer screening pilot.
For Dickens, the issue is not about competing with investment in women’s health.
It is about applying the same principle of prevention and early detection to men’s health.
More than 4,000 men diagnosed every year
The numbers behind the Foundation’s campaign are confronting.
More than 4,000 New Zealand men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, while more than 750 die from the disease annually.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among New Zealand men.
Yet unlike some other cancers, there is no organised national population screening programme.
That leaves much of the responsibility for early detection sitting between individual men and their health professionals.
For men who rarely visit a GP, do not recognise symptoms or are reluctant to talk about their health, that can mean opportunities for earlier diagnosis are missed.
Screening is more complicated than a PSA test
The Foundation is not simply calling for every man in the country to immediately receive a PSA blood test.
Prostate cancer screening has historically been complicated by concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
Some prostate cancers grow slowly and may never become life-threatening, meaning detecting every abnormality can potentially lead to unnecessary investigations and treatment.
But diagnostic technology has changed.
PSA testing can now be combined with risk assessment, imaging and more targeted diagnostic approaches to identify which men require further investigation.
That is one of the reasons the Foundation is proposing a pilot first.
A controlled programme would allow New Zealand to test participation rates, diagnostic pathways, health outcomes, costs and equity before deciding whether national screening is justified.
Why Tairāwhiti and Waitematā?
The proposed locations would also provide an opportunity to understand how screening performs across different communities.
Tairāwhiti has a significant Māori population and presents different health access challenges from metropolitan Auckland.
Waitematā provides a large urban population and a different health service environment.
Together, they could provide valuable evidence about whether an organised programme reaches men who are currently missing out.
That equity component will be critical.
A screening programme is only successful if the people most likely to experience poor outcomes can actually access it.
Tāne Māori cannot be an afterthought
For tāne Māori, the conversation needs to go further than simply making another medical test available.
Cost is one barrier.
But so are access to primary care, transport, time away from mahi, trust in the health system and whether services are delivered in ways that work for Māori men and their whānau.
A successful pilot in Tairāwhiti would therefore need Māori providers, iwi and communities involved in its design and delivery from the beginning.
That could mean taking screening and health information beyond traditional clinics and into places where tāne already are.
Marae, workplaces, sporting clubs and community events can all potentially play a role in changing the culture around men’s health.
The goal should not simply be more tests.
It should be earlier diagnosis and fewer preventable deaths.
Men are notoriously difficult to get through the door
One of the persistent challenges in men’s health is getting men to engage with health services before something goes seriously wrong.
Too often, the first serious conversation happens after symptoms become impossible to ignore.
That approach can have devastating consequences when dealing with diseases where earlier diagnosis provides more treatment options.
The Foundation’s argument is that an organised screening pathway could shift prostate health from something men have to initiate themselves towards something the health system actively encourages them to participate in.
That matters particularly for men who otherwise consider themselves healthy and rarely see a doctor.
A $6.4 million question
At $6.4 million over four years, the Foundation’s proposal is relatively modest compared with the wider costs of cancer treatment and the Government’s overall health budget.
But the purpose of the pilot would be to establish whether a larger investment is justified.
If the evidence demonstrates earlier detection, better outcomes and an ability to reach high-risk communities without generating unacceptable levels of unnecessary treatment, the case for a national programme would become considerably stronger.
If it does not, policymakers would have New Zealand-specific evidence on which to base future decisions.
Either way, Dickens argues the question deserves to be properly tested.
Cancer prevention should not become men versus women
The timing of the campaign alongside free cervical screening could easily be framed as asking why women receive one service while men do not.
But that risks missing the point.
Expanded cervical screening is designed to prevent illness and save lives.
Breast screening saves lives.
Bowel screening saves lives.
And the development of lung cancer screening reflects the same movement towards detecting serious disease earlier.
The Foundation’s case is that prostate cancer deserves to be considered within that same preventative health framework.
Good cancer policy does not require choosing between wāhine and tāne.
It requires identifying where evidence-based screening can reduce avoidable deaths and then making those services accessible to the people who need them.
The real beneficiaries are whānau
Prostate cancer is commonly discussed as a men’s health issue.
But when a father, grandfather, brother, uncle or partner becomes seriously ill, the consequences reach across an entire whānau.
There are hospital appointments, treatment, time away from work, financial pressure and the emotional impact of serious illness.
When a life is lost, that loss extends far beyond an individual patient.
That is why earlier detection is ultimately a whānau issue as much as a men’s health issue.
Time to test the evidence
Dickens and the Prostate Cancer Foundation are not asking the Government to announce a nationwide screening programme tomorrow.
They are asking it to fund the work required to determine whether one should exist.
The proposed four-year pilot offers a way to answer that question with evidence rather than assumption.
New Zealand has made significant commitments to screening for other major cancers.
Now the Foundation says it is time to investigate whether prostate cancer should join them.
More than 4,000 diagnoses and 750 deaths every year represent thousands of fathers, brothers, partners, kaumātua and whānau confronting prostate cancer.
The question Peter Dickens is putting before the Government is therefore a simple one:
If earlier detection can save more of those lives, isn’t $6.4 million worth finding out?
#ProstateCancer #ProstateCancerNZ #ProstateCancerFoundation #PeterDickens #MensHealth #MensHealthNZ #TaneMaori #TaneHealth #MaoriHealth #HauoraMaori #Cancer #CancerScreening #ProstateScreening #PSATest #EarlyDetection #CancerPrevention #HealthEquity #MaoriHealthEquity #Tairawhiti #Waitemata #WhanauHealth #Kaumatua #Fathers #MensCancer #PreventativeHealth #HealthNZ #CancerCare #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea
