The kaumatua of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Dene Ainsworth, says tane Māori are waiting too late to get checked for the disease – meaning it’s more likely to be fatal.
It’s Blue September, the foundation’s biggest fundraising event for the year.
Ainsworth says Māori men are 20 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with the disease than non-Maori and 50 per cent more likely to die from the disease once diagnosed.
“When you are late presenting the changes of a successful treatment programme are highly compromised, so it’s the old story – if we get in early and get early detection, our chances of a successful outcome are much, much greater,” he says.
