27/10/2021
One in eight Kiwi males develops prostate cancer in his lifetime.
One in nine Kiwi women develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Everyday six Kiwis are diagnosed with lung cancer and five Kiwis pass away from this condition.
There are more than 100 types of cancer and these stats reflect only 3 types.
Feeling uneasy about this? Good, take a deep breath and keep reading.
Each year in New Zealand, approximately 25,000 people are diagnosed with cancer and approximately 9,000 of them pass away. In 2018 this represented 31% of all deaths recorded.
When compared to the same time period in 2019, 2020’s lockdown saw a 47% drop in the number of confirmed cancer cases. By October 2020, cancer diagnosis records had “returned to normal” meaning there wasn’t a drop in numbers that year, there was more delayed diagnosis due to the lockdown.
Everyday counts with cancer as finding cancer early increases the chances of survival rates. Breast cancer has a 99% five-year survival rate when found before it spreads. For colon cancer, it's 90% when found at an early stage.
Getting the appropriate treatment and care following a confirmed diagnosis is a different story and for a Health System that is already backlogged with waiting lists it's not great news. Especially when you consider this year's lockdown & its long-term impact.
This is where Private Medical Cover & Trauma Cover has its place in the New Zealand Market. It fills a gap the public health care system has with waiting list, treatment and medication that isn't subsided by Pharmac. If you have any questions about this please feel free to reach out to me.
On my page I have some posts where you can complete some self-checks, I would encourage you to read over these especially during this period where we may not be getting annual screening checks.
If you are looking for more information, please talk to your doctor or visit the following sites :
https://www.cancer.org.nz/
https://www.breastcancerfoundation.org.nz/
https://lungfoundation.org.nz/
https://prostate.org.nz