New Zealand’s current screening programme calls for a smear test every three years for women aged 25 to 69 years. And it has been successful, reducing incidences of cancer by 50 per cent and mortality rates by 60 per cent since the programme was introduced in 1990. However, only three-quarters of eligible women are being screened with Māori, Pasifika and Asian demographics less likely than European New Zealanders to have regular screenings. “It is a system failure that women don’t want to get a cervical cancer screening,” said Professor Bev Lawton, director of the Centre for Women’s Health Research at Victoria University in Wellington who is advocating for a self-test procedure to be common practice in New Zealand. “We just have to have a test that suits them.”
There are hopes better cervical screening could improve uptake rates - 07-Apr-2021
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New Zealand minister s cervical cancer diagnosis prompts calls for better screening
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There are hopes better cervical screening could improve uptake rates - 07-Apr-2021
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Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan has stage 3 cervical cancer.
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
The 37-year-old Minister of Conservation and Emergency Management has stage 3 cervical cancer, and admitted in a Facebook post she delayed getting checked out because she wasn t comfortable with the invasive test.
She got a smear test over three years ago, in response to the Smear Your Mea campaign, started by Talei Morrison to encourage wahine Māori to get checked.
Morrison s own cancer diagnosis gave her the impetus to launch the campaign, however she lost her battle with the disease in 2018.
Her brother Eruera Keepa, who s carrying on his late sister s legacy, was deeply saddened to hear about Kiri Allan.