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Download AudioBowel Cancer New Zealand says 60,000 Māori and Pasifika are missing out on promised free bowel screening.
Medical adviser Sue Crengle says while the national programme has distributed more than two million home-screening kits since 2017 and picked up 2,495 cancers, a directive to extend free screening to Maori and Pasifika when they reach to age of 50 rather than 60 has not been carried out in most areas.
She says money was earmarked for the rollout.
“It’s only a very small number of tests a year and this Government, they say they are reviewing the age that everyone starts but that’s ignoring the fact there is a need for earlier bowel screening for Maori,” Professor Crengle says.
More than 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.
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