Howie Morrison, pictured in 2016, has lost two uncles to bowel cancer. Photo / Ben Fraser
Just half of the bowel cancer screening kits sent to Māori and 40 per cent sent to Pasifika are returned.
Now two performers are throwing their weight behind a campaign to change that.
Both Howie Morrison and Chris Powley have had loved ones die from bowel cancer.
Morrison - the son of Sir Howard Morrison - had two uncles who died from it as they were, in his view, "typical staunch men" who never got tested.
His wife, Waipurukamu Morrison, was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in August 2020 when she was 40, leaving him "devastated".
Waipurukamu survived her diagnosis and now, life is "as normal as can be".
Powley's grandfather and a close friend both died of bowel cancer about 15 years ago, two years apart. He says awareness around bowel cancer screening "wasn't so present at that time".
The National Bowel Screening Programme offers free screening to people aged between 60 and 74.
Data provided by the Ministry of Health showed participation rates for the programme by ethnicity for a two-year period ending June 30.
Pacific peoples had the lowest participation rate of 39.1 per cent, with 11,136 kits returned out of 28,462 kits sent. Māori had a 48.5 per cent participation rate with 22,615 kits returned out of 46,638 kits sent.
Those identifying as other had a 62.4 per cent participation rate, with 264,332 kits returned out of 442,841 kits sent.
Morrison and Powley have joined a 50-member cast and crew to create an upbeat and colourful video to encourage people to take part in the programme, which will soon be extended to cover Māori and Pasifika aged 50 to 74, as announced by the Government in Budget 2022. The initiative would be launched in selected regions this year before being extended nationally from July next year.
The video was filmed near Ōhinemutu Village in Rotorua at a private residence and launched this week as a new national advertising campaign.
Morrison and Powley sing the waiata [song] in the video and feature in it at the end.
Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post, Morrison, 60, said he wanted the video to "inspire more people not to be so nervous" around using bowel cancer testing kits.
"It's just so easy for them to brush [symptoms] aside."
The video shows a man celebrating his 60th birthday with friends and whānau at home in his backyard. He is about to blow the candles out on his cake when he is given a bowel screening test. He goes to the bathroom, does the test, and lets everyone know he has done it, to which they all shout "Hooray!"
Morrison said the video was aimed at men in particular because they could be "too staunch" like his two uncles.
Morrison said his wife did five weeks of chemotherapy and had an operation after her bowel cancer diagnosis in August 2020.
"It took a while to adapt - she's not able to do things she used to but she's a fighter."
Now, life for her is "as normal as can be".
Powley, 47, said the video was about the "prevention" of bowel cancer and to encourage men to be proactive about getting tested and not be so "stubborn and tough".
It was also to show how easily the test could be done "in the privacy of your own home" and there was "nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about".
"I think there's that attitude among men in general, or Māori and Pasifika, a real 'she'll be right' attitude in New Zealand.
"It's an attitude that clearly doesn't work for men ... It's all about being around for whānau in the long run ... by simply doing an easy, two-minute test and sending it away."
Powley's grandfather and a close friend both died of bowel cancer two years apart.
"The awareness wasn't so present at that time.
"If things were like they are now and the awareness was a lot more supported, then it may have been able to prevent that."
Powley has survived abdominal and testicular cancer. He was diagnosed at 20 and "came out the other side of it luckily".
"This was right up my alley when I was approached to be a part of the whole kaupapa."
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the campaign particularly focused on Māori and Pacific peoples and "comprehensive research with priority audiences" was undertaken as part of developing the campaign.
"This research found that barriers to screening included fear of finding out that you are sick, not understanding what bowel cancer is or the benefits of screening, being whakamā [ashamed, embarrassed] about sending poo samples through the mail, and language barriers.
"The campaign addresses these barriers, emphasising that bowel screening is free, easy, and you can do it at home."
The spokesperson was "confident" the launch of the campaign would help improve participation rates in these groups.