Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation
Government changes to bowel screening eligibility will leave more Māori and Pacific people at risk of dying at a younger age from bowel cancer, New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.
Health Minister Simeon Brown today announced the Government is repurposing funding set aside from now scraped plans to lower bowel screen eligibility to all Māori and Pacific people over 50, to lower eligibility for all New Zealanders from 60 to 58.
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says the move will exacerbate health inequities for Māori and Pacific people.
“The reason eligibility for Māori and Pacific people was lowered was because they have a higher proportion of bowel cancer before they reach 60 – with a shockingly rate of 21% rate compared to 10% for non-Māori and non-Pacific peoples.
“The Cancer Society has called out the Government’s use of data to back up its decision as ‘very selective’. NZNO would go a step further and call it outright dangerous to the lives of Māori and Pacific people,” Kerri Nuku says.
The Coalition Government claims to put need before race but there is a clear evidential need to screen Māori and Pacific people at an earlier age, she says.
“Bowel Cancer New Zealand has said removing the younger screening eligibility would result in 100,000 Māori and Pacific people aged 50 not getting earlier screening. These people are at greater risk of having later stage bowel cancer when they are screened eight years later.
“This decision smacks of political ideology over commonsense health policy and must be reversed,” Kerri Nuku says.