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

Lung cancer hits Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand hard. It's the top killer among cancers for them. 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 story doesn't end there. Māori often get 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 project found some good news. Māori and Europeans have equal access to things like bronchoscopy, pathological diagnosis, radiation therapy, and systemic therapy. Also, the time it takes to get treatment is about the same for both groups. But there are still big problems. For example, Māori are more likely to find out about their cancer in an emergency. They also have less access to early detection. Surgery rates are lower for Māori, and they often have to travel farther for treatments like bronchoscopy, surgery, and radiation therapy. These are serious issues that need fixing. To tackle these problems, five recommendations were made. These include improving early detection, making sure Māori get the same access to surgery, and reducing travel distances for treatment. The goal is to make lung cancer survival rates fair for everyone. 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.