Maori cancer rates high

New Zealanders have a high cancer death rate because of the number of Maori who get the disease, a Dunedin cancer specialist says.

Cancer killed about the same number of Caucasians in Australia and New Zealand, said oncologist and Cancer Society president Dr David Perez, but Maori deaths boosted the New Zealand rate.

Fewer Maori joined screening programmes and they were more likely to refuse medical treatment, he said.