Project hopes to boost breast screening for wahine Māori

An initiative has begun to find 500 eligible Māori women in the Northern Region, who are not currently benefitting from free breast screening, and to offer them the opportunity to participate. 

The project is a Māori Health Pipeline initiative, a collaboration between Waitematā and Auckland DHBs. The 500 Māori Women Campaign – Breast Screening Datamatch Project aims to improve equity in breast screening for Māori women who have the lowest coverage and poorest outcomes for breast cancer. 

BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) and Public Health Organisations within the Auckland and Northland DHB boundaries are working to identify unscreened and under-screened eligible Māori women who are not currently benefitting from the BSA programme. The project strengthens current initiatives underway between primary care practices and BreastScreen Aotearoa lead providers. 

BSA manager Maree Pierce says screening is a proven tool to address inequalities and this is an important opportunity to encourage wahine Mâori to participate in the breast screening programme. 

Lessons from this collaboration will inform potential future work for all eligible women.