Government announces free cervical screening for all women aged 25-69 from March 2027

Free cervical screening for all women aged 25-69 from March 2027

The New Zealand Government has announced that cervical screening will be free for all women aged 25-69 from 1 March 2027, a move Health Minister Simeon Brown said would implement a recommendation from successive Parliamentary Reviews since 2018.

Brown and Women's Minister Nicola Grigg made the announcement on Tuesday, with Brown noting that cervical cancer was one of the most preventable diseases but that cost could be a barrier to screening. Around 55 percent of eligible women currently pay anywhere from $35 to more than $100 for appointments, according to the ministers' statements.

The policy would make screenings free for an estimated additional 786,000 women, Brown said.

Screening is currently free for Māori and Pacific women aged 25-69, Community Services Card holders, and women who have never been screened or are overdue. From March 2027, all women aged 25-69 will be eligible for free cervical screening, either through a GP visit or self-test, recommended every five years.

Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan 2026-2040

Grigg also released the Government's Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan 2026-2040, which sets a goal to reduce cervical cancer to fewer than four cases per 100,000 women a year, across every population group, by 2040. She said the country already had the tools to achieve this.

"A vaccine that prevents the virus behind almost every case, a test that picks it up early, and treatment that works when it is caught in time," Grigg said. "Making screening free is part of that."

Grigg said 69% of young people had their first HPV vaccine by age 15, and the plan sought to raise that to 90% by 2035.

"Today is a good day for women, but screening only saves lives if it's taken up. So my message to every woman who is overdue is simple. Please don't delay – talk to your healthcare provider today," she said.

Voices on the policy

Cervical cancer survivor Jen Jewell, who was diagnosed in 2019, said she only happened to get the test because she and her husband were trying for a child. She said making the test free will hopefully mean it becomes more routine and less scary.

Cancer Society chief executive Nicola Coom said the screening cost can be a barrier for some women. "It can range anywhere between $35 to $100 at your GP. I recently had this self-test and it was $65 and I walked out of that appointment thinking, how do women throughout the country afford this? For some women, that's the choice between..." she said, according to 1News.

Labour's earlier pledge

The Labour Party made a similar pledge last year, offering free cervical screening from October 2027 as part of its policy of three free GP visits each year, through its proposed Medicard, as reported by 1News and NZ Herald.

Brown said he began working on an elimination plan when he became Minister of Health last year, and described the announcement as "a big next step" in delivering elimination for New Zealanders.