Briefing for Incoming Ministers
Child Cancer Foundation has sent a briefing to incoming Ministers in the health and children's portfolios on key issues currently affecting children with cancer and their families.
We are committed as an organisation to a free, frank, and transparent relationship with the Crown, and as such we have prepared the following briefing to incoming Ministers on key issues currently affecting children with cancer and their families.
Child Cancer Foundation has recently attended the annual congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. We came away from the congress with the view that New Zealand is at the forefront of treatment and survivability of childhood cancers.
New Zealand childhood cancer survival rates are currently comparable to the world-class outcomes of Australia, the UK and the USA. For children up to ten, the outcomes are equitable regardless of ethnicity, geography, or socio-economic status.
This success is achieved by New Zealand’s two small groups of paediatric oncologists and specialist support staff, based at Starship and Christchurch hospitals. Their combined experience and insights shape the treatment plans designed for each child to address the often complex and unique cancers they experience.
But we cannot be complacent. There are several issues currently impacting the sector that we wish to raise with incoming Ministers.
Read our open letter here.
