Hon Tariana Turia

Associate Minister of Health

Monday 16 August 2010; 11am Speech

Mihi Whakatau - Opening of Breastscreening unit
Kenepuru Community Hospital, Porirua

Speech notes - check upon delivery

I am delighted to join with you today at this official opening of the BreastScreen Central screening site.

Some might have wondered why it is that this is a service operating out of the Hutt Valley District Health Board. It makes sense, however, when we understand today’s opening is another part of the big plan for the region - covering the greater Wellington region including the Wairarapa.

There is already a fixed site at Hutt Hospital; sub-contractor sites at Johnsonville and Newtown; and there’s the mobile unit which travels right through the region to provide services to all women on a two yearly basis.

But there’s something special about this new site here at Kenepuru.

The purpose of the site is to help to improve access for Kapiti women, and for women who live between Porirua and Newlands. But there’s an added dimension.

A key factor in establishing this site has been in helping to increase screening rates for what we now call priority women – and by that it’s meant, Maori and Pasifika women.

I’m interested in the way in which the system describes different groups of people.

There’s categories like “at risk” which always seem to say more about the system than the group – that the system is at risk of under-performing and under-delivering to certain populations.

Or there’s “hard to reach” - but I wonder whether it’s really that the groups described are hard to reach, or the health system is scratching its head working out how to make the connection.

If we were to think of Maori and Pasifika women here in Porirua for instance, it wouldn’t be hard to reach different groups of women at the various churches; at Toa Rangatira House at Takapuwahia; at the Fanau Centre; at Northcity Plaza, the markets on Saturday morning; the Taeaomanino Trust to name just a few.

But if ‘at risk’ or ‘hard to reach’ women doesn’t work for me, ‘priority women’ certainly does.

If we know one thing about Maori and Pasifika women, it’s that we tend to place our own health needs a long way down the list of priorities. And so what this has translated into, in real terms, is very obvious in the numbers associated with breast screening rates.

BreastScreen Aotearoa reports that 51.1% of eligible Maori women and 54.7% of eligible Pacific women aged between 50-69 years have been screened in the past two years.

These rates are way below the target screening rate of 70 percent.
But it’s not just about targets of course. All the research and statistics tell us that Maori and Pacific women are under-screened – therefore less likely to be diagnosed – and much less likely to follow up any unusual signs.

And this is where it becomes really urgent that we increase coverage for Maori and Pasifika women. Because the statistics tell us that while we have a similar – of in the case of Maori slightly higher incidence of developing breast cancer; the mortality rates are dramatically higher.

Mortality in Maori women is 66% higher than in non-Maori women; and Pasifika women have a 54% greater risk than the general population of dying from breast cancer – disproportionate rates which are largely due to later diagnosis and treatment.

The Ministry of Health has chosen to respond to this situation, by targeting eligible women who have either never been screened or are screened infrequently, and describing them as priority women.

So the concept of priority women is actually about making health a priority; making our women a priority; making life a priority.

And I want to just pay a special tribute today, to the inspiration and motivation provided by the Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, whom while she was both Pacific Islands Minister and MP for Mana, shared the news of her brush with breast cancer in a very public way.

Her mantra was that cancer doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter who you are, or from what culture or community you come from; all women need to be vigilant in going for regular mammograms, and attending the follow up tests.

And so Winnie let us into her life, as she undertook radiation treatment, as she lost her hair, as she waited for results to come in, and she went through all of the emotional and physical upheaval associated with that journey.

I remember her once referring to a Samoan proverb: ‘e le taua le tofi a taua le fa’amaoni’, which loosely translates as

“it’s not the status or position that’s important; what is important is your hard work and commitment to getting things done for others”.

It sums up Winnie’s approach to life, and I know that she will be absolutely wonderful in her new role, encouraging and promoting Pacific achievement and success at Victoria University.

The inspiration and drive that Winnie applied to her journey with breast cancer, is something that I think all of us here can relate to.

It is the notion of placing our strength in the collective; investing in the community and devoting our life to the wellbeing of our whanau.

The health of our mothers, our aunties, our kuia is utterly central to the wealth and wellbeing of our whanau.
What Winnie was doing in going public, was in effect to raise the awareness and encourage participation of her Pacific sisters in the breast-screening programme.

All of us can play that same role in our own families, encouraging our sisters to take action, to become fully informed and to participate in the screening programmes.

We can talk about our health – ensuring that women of any age who feel or notice anything unusual about their breasts, at any time, should see their doctor.

And importantly, we can make sure we are there to support our women through the screening pathways.

The great news is that this new unit makes it so much easier to place priority on our health and wellbeing.

The unit will screen women five days a week, it’s has great access from public transport, and even better, has free car parking.

I want to really commend the two District Health Boards for the excellent collaboration that has taken place in getting us here today. Capital and Coast DHB offered the equipment to Hutt Valley DHB after it became available with the opening of a new hospital. And Philips, the equipment vendor, then gifted the machine to BreastScreen Central.

But it’s not just about equipment. BreastScreen Central has also gone out and laid the foundations for success by linking in to all the primary care providers throughout this community, so that the word gets out about this new unit.

The goal of this unit is to eliminate the disparities by early detection through screening. But there is a far more pressing outcome – and that is to ensure our bodies are respected as sacred; our lives are protected from harm; and the wellbeing of our families is celebrated.

I am delighted to congratulate everyone who is part of this opening and wish you all great courage and commitment, in taking on the vital challenge of inspiring our communities to take the greatest care of their health.

ENDS

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