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July 30, 2024
Health regions slow to extend Māori bowel cancer screens
Adam Gifford
Posted On July 30, 2024
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Bowel Cancer New Zealand says regional health authorities are failing to act on a directive to extend free screening to Māori and Pasifika from age 50.
Bowel Cancer New Zealand says regional health authorities are failing to act on a directive to extend free screening to Māori and Pasifika from age 50.
Medical advisor Sue Crengle says after the lower age level was trialed in the latter half of 2022, it was supposed to be rolled out from July 2023.
But she says it’s only happening in Te Whatu Ora Waikato, Tairāwhiti, and Midcentral.
Over 20 percent of bowel cancer occurs in Māori and Pacific peoples before they reach 60 compared to 10 per cent for non-Māori non-Pacific peoples.
So far the national progarmme has distributed more than two million home-screening kits across Aotearoa and picked up 2,495 cancers.
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