Hāpai Te Hauora acknowledges the expansion of the National Bowel Screening Programme to 58 years but is deeply concerned by the removal of funding for targeted Māori and Pacific screening initiatives.
Māori are more likely to develop bowel cancer at a younger age and be diagnosed later, leading to poorer survival rates. The targeted screening pilot was designed to address these inequities-removing it will only increase preventable deaths.
Māori health leaders, including Hei Āhuru Mōwai Chairperson Dr. Nina Scott, have called this decision institutionalised racism. We support this stance. The government knows that Māori are at higher risk yet has chosen to cut a programme that was working to improve outcomes. As experts have pointed out, this move is not just inequitable-it is totally unethical and will cost lives.
Targeted bowel screening pilots have already proven to be successful. A programme in Waikato that lowered the screening age to 50 for Māori and Pacific individuals resulted in multiple early cancer diagnoses and the removal of precancerous polyps-life-saving interventions that would not have happened otherwise.
"The data is clear-Māori develop bowel cancer earlier, and without targeted interventions, we will continue to see late diagnoses and higher mortality rates," says Jacqui Harema, CEO of Hāpai Te Hauora. "Instead of cutting these programmes, the government should be prioritising them."
Hāpai Te Hauora urges the government to reinstate targeted funding to ensure equitable screening access and better health outcomes for Māori and Pacific communities.
