Small number of Sth Auck. women taking cervical test

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 37

Small number of Sth Auck. women taking cervical test

PA Auckland Less than 10 per cent of women in areas of South Auckland have had a cervical smear, says the Medical Association’s divisional president, Dr Brian. Ross. The problem was acute among Maori and Pacific Island women, many of whom did not know what cervical cancer was. Dr Ross said the medical profession was unable to break down cultural barriers.

Its preventive health messages were not culturally appropriate. The big problem was that doctors were unable to speak the Polynesian languages and last year the division found only one who could. The .Samoan Nurses’ Association president, Ms Akenese Leota, said some Pacific Islanders were scared and could not communicate with doctors. The Middlemore Hospital medical superintendent, Ms Anne Simpson, also believed women in

South Auckland were not going to their doctors for a cervical smear — and many would not have had a smear in their lives. She expected a big increase in abnormal smears when the national screening programme began late this year. Two Otago University epidemiologists have reported cervical cancer is a significant health problem among Pacific Island Polynesian women living in New Zealand, their recent study has found an “exceptionally high re-

corded incidence” of cervical cancer among this group of women, Dr Brian Cox and Professor David Skegg report in a letter to the latest “Medical Journal.” They call for planners of the national cervical screening programme to take account of the special needs of Pacific Island women. But they urge caution in interpreting data from their study “at face value,” because it was possible that some women who came to New Zealand for treatment

gave local addresses, inflating the figures. They report that, during 1978-82, the New Zealand incidence of cervical cancer among Pacific Island women was 4.6 per cent, compared with 2.3 per cent in Maori women and 0.9 per cent in non-Maori. Data from the Cancer Registry showed Pacific Island women had the highest incidence rates throughout middle and old age. They call for further work to establish the exact incidence of cervical cancer among Pacific Island women.