Marama Davidson has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Explainer - Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has been diagnosed with breast cancer - and thanks to New Zealand's breast screening programme, it's been caught early.
Davidson said regular mammogram screenings had given her "the best odds of getting rid of it" and urged other women to get screened.
If her news has prompted you to get screened, here's everything you need to know before you go.
It's free
BreastScreen Aotearoa is New Zealand's free national breast screening programme for women aged between 45 and 69. This will soon be extended to 74.
To make an appointment, all you need to do is freephone BreastScreen Aotearoa on 0800 270 200 and they'll schedule you in for a mammogram. Screenings are free every two years, all the way through the eligible age range.
Photo: 123RF
It's accessible
Regional access to breast screening works a little differently to the main centres. Mobile units will regularly go out to serve rural communities and remain there, on average, for a couple weeks. This means you have to book your mammogram in for the time those units are there.
How it works
When you go for your breast screening, the mammographer will give you a gown to wear. You might be partially nude, but it's a respectful process. Your breast will be laid onto a mammogram machine and placed between two compression paddles. Once one breast is done, the other one is done exactly the same way.
A breast screening service. Photo: 123rf.com
It's slightly uncomfortable, but fast
"It's not painful, but it can be uncomfortable," Breast Cancer Foundation NZ chief executive Ah-lee Rayner says.
"All in all, it probably takes five minutes, and that five minutes can save your life. Women go through so many things that are far more uncomfortable than getting a mammogram. We recommend getting in there, seeing that it's not painful in any way, shape, or form, and getting that booking done."
It can save your life
"Early detection is the best means of surviving breast cancer," Rayner says.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Health Minister Shane Reti in Manukau at the launch of a mobile breast screening unit. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
"If you miss your appointment and you're due for a mammogram, you really should travel to your nearest provider to get it done."
Women have a 95 percent chance of surviving breast cancer five years or longer if the cancer is detected by a mammogram.
