Labour MP Kiritapu Allan has revealed the grim prognosis for her fight against cervical cancer - just a 13 per cent chance of survival.
Allan shared the news last night, part of her ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the importance of regular pap smears and also of the inequities in health care in New Zealand.
Speaking to Newshub's The Hui, Allan said that she discovered during her diagnosis that Māori women have a dramatically lower rate of survival than others.
"When I got told that I had cervical cancer, they said for somebody with stage 3C you have a 40 per cent chance of survival. As a wāhine Māori, I have about a 13.3 per cent chance of survival," she said.
"Do the maths on that. I don't know why that is, how that is, but it's wrong. The disparity is too much, people are dying far too young. This is a korero that needs to happen again and again and again."