Almost 2,500 men are affected with prostate cancer and 600 succumb to the disease in New Zealand, but the Blue September is here, which is celebrating a nationwide campaign against prostate cancer and to encourage more men to face the trouble with all the courage.

Keith Beck, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, said that the numbers were quite shocking to see and they would only mount if no measure was taken to stop the cancer from spreading.

He said that the worst part of the instance is that almost half of such lives lost to prostate cancer could have been saved had they been diagnosed in time.

Since most of the symptoms of the disease come up only by the time most of the men have lost their lives to the disease, it becomes all the more important that early detection is significant to stop the almost-epidemic scenario.

A good number of deaths that have taken place could have been averted if the men had visited their GPs regularly and undergone Prostate Specific-Antigen (PSA) test.

For the Blue September, 21 health practices all through the Hutt Valley, together forming the Valley Primary Health Organisation, have come forward.