Mammogram rates for wāhine Māori have fallen to an all-time low since the pandemic. File pic Photo: AFP
A group of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei artists, Te Puāwai weavers, has joined an effort to try and turn around plummeting breast screening numbers for wāhine Māori.
Around 400 Māori women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and it is the leading cause of death for wāhine Māori under 65.
But mammogram rates have fallen to an all-time low since the pandemic, the Breast Cancer Foundation said, with only 59 percent participation from wāhine Māori.
Te Puāwai weaver Beronia Scott, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, said having a mammogram saved her life.
"They rang me to come and have a double check and when I had my ultrasound they took some images, they took a biopsy as well," Scott said.
"If it wasn't for the mammogram, I wouldn't have gone through all of this to the mastectomy and be here, I don't think I would be here today.
Now her hapū has teamed up with the Breast Cancer Foundation in a new awareness campaign targeted at wāhine Māori, to try and pick up the screening rates.
Efforts needed to extend beyond Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Scott said.
"I think it's up to us, us people, us whānau to remind each other, have you had it? Have you had your mammogram? If you haven't hurry up and get it," Scott said.
The 10-year survival rate for breast cancer detected through a mammogram is 95 percent, but that falls to 85 percent if there is a lump.
Scott said she was hoping to change mindsets, recalling a conversation with one of her relations.
"She said, 'It's uncomfortable' and I said it's only uncomfortable for like 40 seconds and then that's it, you're done. She gave birth to three children, that was a hell of a lot longer and a hell of a lot more uncomfortable."
She believed having whānau speak up was vital.
"I knew a lot of cousins who had mastectomies but they never spoke about it. One of my cousins actually was my support... she was not shy to lose her breasts, she wore togs, lavalavas, she didn't care.
"And I was like, I wanna be like her and not care and I am, I don't care what I look like without my breasts. I swim, I do everything without breasts, I don't need it."