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More women are getting screened for cervical cancer following a public push for new enrolments.
But despite a 4 per cent gain in registrations to the National Cervical Screening Programme following a media campaign launched in September, Maori and Pacific Island women remain under-represented in enrolment figures.
Just over 50 per cent of Maori women and 40 per cent of Pacific Island women have signed up, compared to 80 per cent for non-Maori, non-Pacific women.
But the advertising campaign has seen those figures increase - 1 per cent between September and November for Maori, and nearly 2 per cent for Pacific women.
"Although it's still early days, these results are significant and very encouraging," said Dr Hazel Lewis, the programme's clinical leader.
All women between 20 and 70 are encouraged to be part of the programme, which screens for cervical cancer. The cancer is the second most common in women worldwide, and the eighth most common in New Zealand - the lower occurrence partly attributable to the screening programme.
It is the third most common cancer and fourth leading cause of death in Maori women, occurring at nearly twice the rate of all women. Rates for Pacific women are similar.
Dr Lewis said the national target for screening all eligible women is 75 per cent. Before the publicity campaign, coverage was 70.4 per cent across all groups.
"This has increased by nearly 1 percentage point in the first three months of the campaign, which is significant given that more than one million women are now enrolled."
The second stage of the campaign, featuring four new television commercials, has now started.
Associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick said: "Feedback shows this campaign has got women talking about the benefits of regular checks."
The new commercials are designed to build on that awareness. Having a regular smear reduces a woman's chances of dying from cervical cancer by around 90 per cent, she said.
* Medicines regulator Medsafe yesterday approved the use of the vaccine Cervarix for women aged 10 to 45 to prevent cervical cancer, precancerous lesions and cervical abnormalities caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18. Types 16 and 18 are responsible for more than 70 per cent of cervical cancers worldwide.
Last year the Government turned down recommendations to pay for girls as young as 11 to be given what was then New Zealand's only licensed HPV vaccine, Gardasil, suggesting it would wait until another came on the market and the price dropped.
