Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia says humour has helped to boost the traditionally low number of Maori and Pacific women who have cervical smears.
The national cervical screening programme says that in the three years to January, Maori participation increased by 7% to 54% over the previous three-year period.
Participation among Pacific women rose by 12% to 59%.
Mrs Turia partly attributes the rise to the move away from the normal clinical messages to using humour in television advertisements about what for Maori and Pacific people is an embarrassing topic.
