The Cancer Control Agency has kicked off a series of nationwide hui today designed to address the appalling cancer statistics for Māori in New Zealand.
Breast cancer survivor Wharekuka Tongaawhikau shared her story at the hui in New Plymouth. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
About 200 people turned out in New Plymouth to listen to health practitioners and hear cancer survivors' stories.
Cancer statistics for Māori make stark reading.
Māori are 20 percent more likely to develop cancer, and twice as likely as non-Māori to die from it.
The Cancer Control Agency, Te Aho o Te Kahu, which was set up in 2019 to reduce the impact of cancer in New Zealand, has acknowledged the health system simply works better for non-Māori than Māori.
Person / whānau centred care director Fletcher Beazley said the hui were the first step in turning those figures around.
"Too many Māori die of cancer every year. Too many Māori get cancer. It's a big problem for our country as a whole and these hui are a way for us to hear the voice of whānau Māori and work together with stakeholders across the continuum of care in our hospitals, in our hauora, in our iwi. To come together to listen to whānau, hear their experiences of cancer and design solutions for the future."
Beazley understood there was some scepticism about another government agency making promises about Māori cancer rates.
Person / whānau centred care director Fletcher Beazley says the hui are a chance to hear the voice of whānau Māori and work together. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
However, he said Te Aho o Te Kahu was different.
"Te Aho o Te Kahu is not just non-Māori staff. We have Māori staff. We also have Hei Āhuru Mōwai, our Māori cancer leadership group nationwide supporting us. We have Te Tumu Whakarae, our general manager Māori [at the DHB] across the country supporting us and we are making an effort.
"I can't speak for the past, but definitely for the future I think 15 hui across the country is a good start."
Moahuia Goza is a board member of Hei Āhuru Mōwai, which has the objective of reducing cancer inequities by influencing decision making and policy settings.
She said simple changes could quickly improve bowel and cervical cancer outcomes for Māori.
"The government needs to commit to extending the bowel screening age [to 50 years-old] for Māori. It needs to fund the HPV self-test programme [for cervical cancer].
"It needs to essentially design a credible screening programme that has Māori govern it and that way we can absolutely ensure that we don't have more screening programmes that are inequitably designed that privilege non-Māori."
Hei Āhuru Mōwai board member Moahuia Goza says the HPV self-test programme should be funded. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Goza said the hui were a good first step.
Taranaki District Health Board Pou Hapai Rawiri Doorbar said cancer had become commonplace for Māori whānau.
"We lose a lot of whānau every year to cancer. It's so terrible that it's almost become a normal news to us 'one of the cuzzies has passed away with cancer, one of the cuzzies has got cancer' and I guess for us the statistics are so high, it's huge and terrible."
Doorbar said it was easy to point the finger at institutional racism and failed policy settings of the past, but he preferred to focus on the future.
"It's a huge day for our families to be able to come together on a more positive occasion. I mean as negative as the whole issue around cancer is, a day like today where we come together and talk about it as a focused kaupapa is really positive."
Taranaki DHB Pou Hapai Rawiri Doorbar says it is important to focus on the future. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Breast cancer survivor Wharekuka Tongaawhikau shared her story.
After getting a scan in a community bus at Waitara, she believed the intervention of a surgeon who was treating her husband for a problem with his arm was crucial to her successful treatment.
Tongaawhikau said communication was haphazard 12 years ago when she was diagnosed.
"It was really quite scary not knowing how long things were going to take, what kind of cancer I had 'cause I didn't know how fast. All I knew was at the beginning when they found the lump it was 3mm and by the time I had my operation it was ... 14mm. So, 24 days later that's how big it had grown from the time they found it."
Breast cancer survivor Wharekuka Tongaawhikau says there was a language barrier when she was getting treatment. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
While appreciative of the excellent care she received, Tongaawhikau said simply things like getting her name right seemed difficult.
"There wasn't anything Māori that for me I could relate with. I mean going to oncology and people not knowing how to pronounce my name and rather call me by my middle name than my full name.
"You know Wharekuka. They were calling me 'Margaret, Margaret, Margaret', you know. That sort of thing. So, the language thing for me was a bit of a barrier because I speak the reo. Yeah, there were not a lot of things teed up for Māori."
Tongaawhikau hoped hui like today's would ultimately make interacting with the health system easier for Māori.
The remaining 14 community meetings, which would include stops in Hawke's Bay, Rotorua, Manukau, Waitematā and Capital and Coast district health boards, were due to wrapped up by the end of July.
About 200 people were registered to attend the New Plymouth community hui about Māori cancer rates. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
