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Download AudioMāori health providers are being used to roll out bowel screening in the Bay of Plenty.
Alex Lampen-Smith, the regional clinical leader for the national bowel screening programme, says New Zealand has one of the highest rates of death from bowel cancer in the western world and Māori are disproportionally affected.
He says the Tuku programme uses Māori providers to reach isolated rural communities.
“We can work with the local hauora provider and say ‘you know your people, who in your community is of the age,’ and rather than waiting for an envelope to come from Wellington that might never reach them, can we trigger an invitation kit and work with those communities much more closely to enable to participation as much as possible,” Dr Lampen-Smith says.
Finding cancers early will give people a far greater chance of survival.
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