A new report says there are huge gaps in New Zealand’s awareness, treatment and support for ovarian cancer, which has the lowest survival rate of all women’s cancers and kills one woman every two days.

The Ovarian Cancer Foundation presented new research in Parliament on Wednesday that found significant gaps in ovarian cancer awareness, diagnosis, treatment, support, research and clinical trials in New Zealand.

The report, entitled Ovarian Cancer Status Report – Aotearoa New Zealand 2025, said on average 306 people were newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year and one woman died from the disease every 48 hours.

Foundation General Manager Liz Pennington said: daytime report There was a lack of awareness and understanding of ovarian signs and symptoms.

“We know, for example, that in New Zealand, in fact, almost half of all women in emergency departments across Aotearoa are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We also certainly know that when women come to accident and emergency hospitals, it’s clearly because their pain and symptoms are severe.”

She said this was significantly higher than the 21-28% rate of women diagnosed in states A and E in Australia.

He said research funding for ovarian cancer in New Zealand was at a very low level compared to comparable companies.

“When it comes to access to things like clinical trials, women currently only have access to five in New Zealand, but if you look across the Tasman in Australia, women have access to 44.”

Another issue was access to ultrasound for New Zealand women, which often led to significant delays in diagnosis, and women were encouraged to pay for private appointments where possible, she said.

“And the diagnosis I talked about kills 30 percent of women in the first year, and the five-year survival rate is only 42.8 percent. So a very important issue requires a significant investment and action plan.”

She said women who visited a GP in Australia with potential symptoms of ovarian cancer, such as bloating, feeling full even though they haven’t eaten much, or changes in bowel or bladder habits, would receive different treatment than women in New Zealand.

“In Australia, the pelvic exam is the pathway so we can talk about things like how her tummy feels and then have both blood tests and scans, but that’s not the case here in New Zealand.”

In New Zealand, women may be sent for a blood test called CA125, after which they are likely to need a follow-up visit and may not be able to get an appointment, and may then undergo an ultrasound.

“However, the majority of GPs said in our survey that access to ultrasound is difficult and that ultrasound is one of the key factors in delaying diagnosis. So that needs to change.”

She said three new treatments for ovarian cancer had been launched in New Zealand in the past five years, closing the gap with Australia.

But if these treatments are not funded, patients and their families will have to rely on crowdfunding or mortgages to pay for them, she said.

The report urges health decision makers to take the following actions:

• Add education about ovarian cancer symptoms to the national cervical cancer screening program and make clear that the screening will not detect other gynecological cancers
• Modifying the health pathway to allow GPs to refer symptomatic women for an ultrasound at the time of their initial consultation
• Identifying people at high genetic risk before they develop ovarian cancer
• Addressing the shortage of gynecologic oncology specialists
• Prioritize clinical trials for ovarian cancer
• Increase Health Research Council funding to focus on ovarian cancer
• Address data gaps and make accurate, real-time data more accessible across the healthcare system.
• Improving access to and investment in medicines
• Including people with lived experiences, their whānau and patient advocacy groups in service design, policy and research

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