Breastscreen Aotearoa
BreastScreen Aotearoa is a free national screening programme for eligible women aged 45 - 69. It checks women for signs of early breast cancer by using mammograms.
- Antenatal HIV Screening
- Antenatal Screening for Down Syndrome - Quality Improvement Measures
- Breastscreen Aotearoa
- About the programme
- BreastScreen Aotearoa Communications Campaign 2008
- About breast screening (mammograms)
- Who should have a mammogram
- Where to have a mammogram
- What is breast cancer?
- Your results
- Recalled for assessment
- Frequently asked questions
- Resources
- Personal stories
- National Cervical Screening Programme
- Newborn Metabolic Screening Programme (heel prick test)
- Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme
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Print this pageDid you know that...
- Free breast screening for women aged 45 to 69 years is provided by the national breast screening programme, BreastScreen Aotearoa.
- The aim of breast screening is to find very small cancers before a lump can be found on the breast. Early treatment has the best chance of success.
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer in New Zealand women.
- The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age. Breast cancer is uncommon in women under 50.
- For older women, breast screening using mammography (breast x-rays) followed by appropriate treatment is the best way of reducing the chance of dying from breast cancer.
June Northcroft Grant - Breast Cancer Survivor
"I survived breast cancer because I found it early"
Jane Manawanui Ikinofo - Breast Cancer Survivor
"Go for your breast screening. That way you'll put your mind at peace."
Jack's story - it's about the whole whanau
Jack's mother died of breast cancer at age 53. He urges women to have regular breast screening.
Surviving breast cancer - Maata's story
Breast cancer survivor Maata had her cancer detected following a mammogram through the programme.
Joint position statement: the use of thermography as a breast cancer screening or diagnostic tool
Detailed booklet now available - More about breast screening and BreastScreen Aotearoa
Breast Screening Pathway - what to expect:
The breast screening pathway begins with eligible women being offered the opportunity to take part in BreastScreen Aotearoa, and deciding to take part. Women taking part will be asked to have a mammogram.
If the result is normal, they will be invited to have another mammogram in two years time. In a small number of cases, further investigation will be required, and these women will be recalled. Those recalled will be offered further tests and a small number will be found to have breast cancer. Options for action will then be discussed.