Closing the Gap: How to Improve Lung Cancer Care for Māori

The Harsh Reality

Lung cancer is the top killer among cancers for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. More Māori lose their lives to lung cancer each year than from the next five most common cancers combined. This is a big problem that needs attention.

The Care Gap

The story doesn't end there. Māori often receive worse care than the majority European population. This isn't fair, and it's not right. But why does this happen? One big reason could be that Māori don't get the right care at the right time. This is what a recent nationwide project tried to figure out.

The Findings

The project found some good news:

• Equal access to treatments like bronchoscopy, pathological diagnosis, radiation therapy, and systemic therapy.
• Similar wait times for treatment.

But there are still big problems:

• Higher emergency diagnoses for Māori.
• Less access to early detection.
• Lower surgery rates for Māori.
• Longer travel distances for treatments like bronchoscopy, surgery, and radiation therapy.

The Recommendations

To tackle these problems, five recommendations were made:

1. Improve early detection.
2. Ensure equal access to surgery.
3. Reduce travel distances for treatment.
4. Address systemic biases in healthcare.
5. Increase cultural competency among healthcare providers.

The Goal

The goal is to make lung cancer survival rates fair for everyone.

The Path Forward

The good news is that it's possible to make things fairer. But we can't stop here. We need to keep pushing to close the gaps and make sure Māori get the best care possible. Only then can we truly say we're doing right by our Indigenous peoples.