As we enter Breast Cancer Awareness Month, one of our lead researchers, Dr Andrew Shelling has a message for our Government in regards to funding for breast cancer research in NZ. His letter comes after the government announced significant cuts to the traditional sources of biomedical and translational research funding…
Welcome to our column, A Letter To… Some of our most well-known Kiwis and everyday heroes pen letters about a topic close to their hearts. Some of their names you will know very well, while other’s are kept anonymous to protect the privacy of the subjects. Whether it is a letter to a specific someone, or a group of people, or simply an open letter to broach a difficult subject, each letter is very different, but all will share one common thread; they will all be written from the heart. You can read our other letters here.
Every year, thousands of New Zealand women hear the words no one ever wants to hear: “you have breast cancer.” Hundreds won’t survive it, and despite breast cancer being the most common cancer affecting women in this country, research remains chronically underfunded.
This isn’t an abstract problem, it’s a daily reality. In clinics, researchers and doctors are working at the edge of possibility, testing therapies, refining diagnostics, and pushing discoveries forward. Yet too often those discoveries are slowed, not because the science isn’t there, but because the funding isn’t.
In recent weeks, the government announced significant cuts to the traditional sources of biomedical and translational research funding – the Health Research Council (HRC) and the Marsden Fund. Instead, we’ve been told the money will be diverted into the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology (NZIAT), a body focused on commercialisation and economic growth.
This shift is framed as an investment in innovation, but it also risks slowing progress against the very diseases that threaten our families every day.
Breast cancer research, which relies heavily on HRC grants and academic collaborations will suffer most, and the consequences are clear. New treatments will be delayed, scientific discoveries will struggle to make the leap from lab bench to bedside, our brightest researchers will leave for greener pastures and patients will suffer.
When the government deprioritises investigator-led research, it doesn’t just weaken our scientific community. It jeopardises the health and survival of thousands of New Zealand women.
In the absence of robust government investment, charities like Breast Cancer Cure (BCC) are left to bridge the gap.
For more than 20 years, it has worked with New Zealand’s leading universities and hospitals to fund studies with global relevance projects that could one day turn breast cancer from a life-threatening disease into a curable one.
Every campaign, every fundraiser, every dollar raised goes directly into science. One of BCC’s most visible and uplifting initiatives is Tees for a Cure. On the surface, it’s simple: buy a T-shirt, wear it proudly, and support the cause. But its impact runs far deeper.
Each tee is a public declaration of solidarity, a visible reminder that this fight is shared.
This week marks the launch of the ninth Tees for a Cure campaign, and one of the biggest yet: 25 tees designed by 25 of New Zealand’s leading fashion designers and brands. Survivors wear them with pride, families wear them in honour, and supporters wear them as a statement of collective determination.
Each tee is a double act of activism: raising money for vital research while sparking conversations in the community. They are moving billboards, proof that ordinary New Zealanders will not sit still while policy lags.
This is where our government must listen. Where communities are quick, it is slow. Where charities are nimble, it is rigid, and where families and researchers cry out for urgency, it retreats into bureaucracy.
Breast Cancer Cure shows what’s possible when creativity, community, and science align. But charity alone cannot and should not shoulder the burden of discovery. Without government investment, without sustained funding streams like the HRC and Marsden Fund, New Zealand risks losing ground and losing lives.
Breast cancer research is not an optional extra. It is not a line item to be cut for the sake of “commercialisation.” It is life and death.
So I say this with urgency: restore funding to investigator-led, patient-focused research. Back the scientists and clinicians who are working relentlessly to find answers. Support the work that could spare thousands of New Zealand families from the devastation of breast cancer, and until that happens we can support charities like BCC and wear our tees with pride.
A future where breast cancer no longer takes lives is within reach. But only if government steps up alongside us.
You can purchase one of the 25 Tees for a Cure designs from Breast Cancer Cure.
