Pacific breast screening rates continue to improve

The continued success in encouraging Pacific women to have breast screening owes much to the hard work by BSA providers to engage effectively with Pacific communities. From September 2008 to February 2014, Pacific coverage for women aged 50 to 69 has increased from 49 percent to 73 percent, which is a phenomenal success.

Breast screening coverage for non-Māori/non-Pacific women continues to increase and coverage for women aged 50 to 69 for the two-year period ending February 2014 is 72.8 percent.

Māori women remain under-screened but the gap between Māori women and non-Māori women continues to reduce. BSA providers continue to be committed to equitable coverage for all eligible women and their hard work is paying off. Coverage for Māori women has continued to rise steadily and is now at 66 percent for the two-year period ending February 2014.