At the Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ, we see first-hand how good information makes all the difference to both outcomes and patient experience of healthcare. The choice of treatment pathway for those diagnosed with the disease can span from no treatment at all, right through to the full range of interventions including surgery, radiotherapy and systemic approaches. Working out what the best pathway is for each man involves the exchange of a wide variety of information between healthcare professionals and patients as they strive to make the most appropriate decisions in order to achieve the b ..read more

        News Release12 January 2023  Prostate cancer patient Maurice Bevin returns to New Zealand next week to see his oncologist for the first time since COVID closed New Zealand’s borders in 2020. He’s also using this trip home as a chance to raise money for cancer research and prostate cancer awareness by walking 125km around Taranaki in under 24 hours. Maurice cites the NZ Government’s COVID policies as the reason he was unable to get home to see his cancer specialist. While he has been regularly sending through his blood test and PSA results from his home base in ..read more

News Release 18 December 2022 PCOR-ANZ Report: Significantly improved pathway to prostate cancer diagnosis is required if health outcomes for Kiwi men are to improve While the just released Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry Australia and New Zealand (PCOR-ANZ) Annual Report confirms that early accurate diagnosis saves lives and improves quality of care, it also confirms that men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand remain significantly worse off, with poorer earlier accurate diagnosis, than their trans-Tasman cousins. Reasons for this include poor access to MRI pre-biopsy in ..read more

As the House winds up for Christmas, the Prostate Cancer Foundation NZ (PCFNZ) welcomes not just the fundraising aspect of the transaction between ACT Leader David Seymour and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but the opportunity it affords to remind Kiwi men that the best gift their health can receive may just be a little prick. The PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) blood test, to be specific. Early detection saves lives – 1 in 8 men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, around 4000 men are diagnosed every year and 700 will die of the disease. Evidence suggests that the single most effec ..read more

On 21 October 2022, Ryman Healthcare donated a game-changing $422,000 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation NZ, official charity partner 2021-2022 (alongside the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia).  The Foundation is staggered by the funds raised and can’t thank everyone enough. CEO Peter Dickens and Board Member John McFedries visited the Diana Isaac Retirement Village in Christchurch to meet with residents and staff, and members of the Ryman Healthcare Team, for a very special cheque presentation. Diana Isaac Village was the champion fundraiser, raising $15,000, smashing their target ..read more

News Release 30 September 2022 Strong demand for prostate cancer counselling service: supporting men at increased risk of mental distress As Mental Health Awareness Week and Blue September draw to a close, Peter Dickens, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation is keen to make sure New Zealand men living with prostate cancer, and at risk of increased mental distress, know that free counselling and support is available to them 24/7 via the Prostate Cancer Foundation Counselling Service. In 2021, the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCFNZ) partnered with leading mental health and wellbeing provider, Rai ..read more

News Release 24 September 2022 Pharmac is failing NZ men through lack of funding for prostate cancer medicines We’ve all seen the headlines – every week someone is calling on Pharmac and the Government to increase funding and provide access to life saving cancer drugs. But rather than prioritise medicines that are clinically proven and recommended by international guidelines our drug funding continues to fall woefully short, says Peter Dickens, CEO of Prostate Cancer Foundation New Zealand (PCFNZ). “Pharmac’s $1.245 billion of drug funding for FY22/23 sounds like a big number, but if you break ..read more

News Release 24 September 2022 An impossible choice between life and death. To pay or not to pay for cancer treatment? Paul Cherry has lived in both Mount Maunganui and in Asia as an operations manager in the Kiwifruit industry, spending 12 years in Japan and a further five years in China training operations staff in fruit quality, storage, and shipping. It was in Japan that a prerequisite of the job was a yearly medical. “It was quite the health MOT,” says Paul. “They scheduled us in for a full day of health testing, every year. It would be non-negotiable and believe me, no rock was left unt ..read more

News Release: 15 September 2022 Every year in New Zealand more than 700 Kiwi men die from prostate cancer. That’s 58 dads, sons, brothers, and grandads dying each month. ‘Blue September’ is the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand’s (PCFNZ) primary fundraising campaign with every cent raised during the month used to help improve the health outcomes for men and their whānau living with prostate cancer. This year Farmers is once again proud to be supporting Blue September and helping to support the 1 in 8 men who will get prostate cancer in their lifetime. Customers can donate to Blue Septe ..read more

News Release 14 September 2022 New Zealand men with a late prostate cancer diagnosis currently losing $300 million in earnings New research presented at the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand’s (PCFNZ) annual conference held at the end of August showed a late diagnosis of prostate cancer not only contributes to negative health outcomes for New Zealand men, adversely affects their employment earnings by an average of $12,000 over four years, compared to no loss of earnings with an early diagnosis. The research was presented by Sarah Hogan, New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIE ..read more