Help fight to change bowel cancer outcomes
Every year, more than 3,300 Kiwis are diagnosed with bowel cancer, and 1,200 die from the disease, including 350 people under the age of 50. We need your help to change these statistics!
Take action today: email or write to your local MPs (find contact details here), Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, and Health Minister Simeon Brown.
Urge them to deliver on their promise – to lower the bowel screening age and protect a million more Kiwis. Screening from age 45 is already standard in Australia and the USA. New Zealand’s current screening starting at 60 is costing lives and leaving thousands unprotected.
The most powerful letters are written in your own words. Download our letter template below – use it as a starting point, but make sure it reflects your voice and passion.
If you or your whānau have been impacted by bowel cancer, please include your experience. Your story is powerful and shows why bold action can’t wait.
Our latest advocacy project: Time for Change 2025-26
New Zealand has one of the highest bowel cancer rates in the world and over 400 excess deaths every year compared to Australia. It does not need to be this way, so we are advocating for urgent and sustained change.
We are calling for five things that will make all the difference:
- Screen at 45 with nobody left behind – the Prime Minister was elected on a promise that would protect a million more Kiwis by screening at age 45, the same as Australia.
- Shorter waits – the Health Minister needs to ensure enough colonoscopies are funded to get waiting lists back under control – below 8,000 nationally – so people can get care within six weeks of referral, and regular surveillance without delays.
- Equity for all – Māori with bowel cancer are 46% more likely to die than other Kiwis, and Pacific Islanders 60% more likely. We are asking the government to publish and be accountable for a clear delivery plan that is developed and backed by Māori and Pacific clinical experts to address this survival gap – including screening 10 years earlier to ensure equal benefit from screening for these communities.
- Access to medicines – All cost-effective medicines routinely available in Australia, the UK or Canada should be available in New Zealand. We are asking for a report setting out progress closing this medicines gap (measured in life years) for each type of cancer to be published annually by Pharmac.
- Fewer bowel cancers – Getting serious about tackling the risk factors causing our high bowel cancer rates in New Zealand will save thousands of lives and millions of dollars. We are looking for government to publish a roadmap of regulatory changes that match best practice internationally to reduce the risk of cancer caused by alcohol, smoking, food-related ill health, and physical inactivity.
Our previous advocacy project: Call to Action 2020 to 2025
Call to Action 2025 was a powerful plea to all levels of Government and community to work together to achieve seven key calls to action designed to significantly reduce the impact of bowel cancer by 2025. We were calling for:
- Additional support for each district to ensure full implementation of screening
- Action to address inequities in bowel cancer outcomes
- A clear plan to increase access to screening for New Zealanders aged 50 to 59 years
- For comprehensive evidence-informed programmes to increase participation in screening
- For healthcare professionals to be informed of patients screening results
- For the public and healthcare professionals to be made more aware of the symptoms and risk of bowel cancer
- For improved access to drug treatments for people with advanced bowel cancer
Advocacy projects
We’re proud to support these important projects and milestones: every one a further step towards beating bowel cancer.
2010 to 2016
2017
2019
2019
2019
2019 – 2020
To learn about other advocacy projects, check out our media releases.