by Louisa Wall and Dr Rawiri Jansen
OPINION: The Government’s decision to set a universal bowel screening age of 58 – ignoring clear evidence that Māori and Pacific peoples develop bowel cancer at a younger age – will cost lives. This is a decision that disregards scientific data, health equity, and the lived realities of Māori and Pacific communities.
For years, health experts have called for targeted interventions to address ethnic disparities in bowel cancer. The numbers are irrefutable: Māori and Pacific peoples are diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier and die from it at disproportionately higher rates. Yet, instead of acting on this knowledge, Health Minister Simeon Brown has chosen a one-size-fits-all approach that denies these communities the early detection they desperately need.
Let’s be clear – bowel cancer is New Zealand’s second-biggest cancer killer. Early detection saves lives. This is not just theory; it’s proven.
The pilot programme in Waikato, Tairāwhiti, and MidCentral, which lowered the screening age for Māori and Pacific peoples to 50, was based on robust evidence. It worked. It identified cancers earlier and gave people a fighting chance. But rather than expanding this lifesaving approach nationwide, the Government has scrapped it.