Hawke's Bay's Pasifika community urged to get bowel checks

Health officials in Hawke's Bay are trying to curb the high rate of bowel cancer deaths among Pasifika people by encouraging them to take the national bowel screening test when they get one in the mail. Although Pacific and Maori people are less likely to the disease than Paheka, they are more likely to die from it than any other ethnic group in the country. That's because they're less likely to go to a doctor when they do have symptoms, but it's also hard for Pacific cultures to say the word 'bowel' or 'colon' out loud. So how do you spread the message about a cancer when it's culturally insentive to talk about it? RNZ Hawke's Bay reporter, Anusha Bradley went along to a fono to find out.