Published: 19 September, 2018

‘Wero your Tero’  campaign calls for Māori men to be aware of  Prostate Cancer risks

‘Wero your Tero’ campaign calls for Māori men to be aware of Prostate Cancer risks

The ‘Wero your Tero’ campaign kicks off at a breakfast launch in Ōtautahi at Rehua Marae from 7.30-9.30am on 26th September 2018. The campaign has been developed to create awareness among tāne of the risks and symptoms of prostate cancer and to encourage regular check-ups.

 

‘Wero your Tero’ is a community project which has been funded by Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu and Pharmac in response to Māori men being twice as likely to be diagnosed with the metastatic disease than non-Māori. Research shows that one man every three hours will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in New Zealand, and that’s eight men every day, 3000 every year.

 

“Six hundred men will die annually from prostate cancer. What we’re saying to whānau is that it could be your pāpā, matua, brother, a friend, so we all need to do something about it collectively,” says Project Manager, Vania Pirini.

 

A study from the Midland Cancer Network and Auckland University found that 19% of Māori men have metastatic, or advanced prostate cancer when they receive a diagnosis compared with 10% of Europeans.

 

“We need to understand why there is differential care – and we need to also ensure that the awareness message gets out there – hence the Wero your Tero campaign.

 

“Some of our tāne in the Ōtautahi Māori community got together and have come up with the ‘Wero your Tero’ campaign to draw attention to the issue in the hope more of our tāne become aware of the risks and get checked regularly. We have developed a ‘Wero your Tero’ Facebook page and video and will be holding wānanga to create more platforms for discussion and ways we can encourage tāne to make their health a priority,” says Pirini.

 

For more information, we advise whānau to check out www.prostate.org.nz or see your local doctor now.


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