October 21, 2021
Early breast check routine needed
A Māori breast cancer awareness advocate wants the age for free screening brought down.
The Breast Cancer Foundation is highlighting the disruption to screening services because of Covid lockdowns, with estimates more than 133 women have undiagnosed cancers because their mammograms were cancelled or delayed.
Stacey Morrison says wahine Māori already struggle with poor access to health services, and many may also feel whakamā about getting screened, which a change in policy could help.
“For wahine Māori as a youthful population, it’s really important you get into these routines early so if we are encouraged to do so in our 20s and 30s, it will be kind of normalised,” she says.