Health Minister Simeon Brown rejected advice from officials to lower the bowel screening age to 58 for the general population and 56 for Māori and Pacific people, just-released documents show.

The government is being accused of sacrificing peoples' lives for ideology by delaying bowel cancer screening for Māori and Pacific people from 50 to 58.

Government plans to lower the age for free bowel cancer screening for all New Zealanders by "redirecting" money previously set aside to lower the age for Māori and Pasifika has been described as "disappointing".

Government changes to bowel screening eligibility will leave more Māori and Pacific people at risk of dying at a younger age from bowel cancer, New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.

The government has announced plans to lower the age for free bowel cancer screening for all New Zealanders by "redirecting" money previously set aside to lower the age for Māori and Pacific people.

Hauora Taiwhenua has presented a 10-point action plan to Ministers following last week's pivotal Rural Māori Health Summit in Wellington. Co-hosted with our Te Tiriti partners, Te Rōpū Ārahi, the Summit brought together politicians, health officials and key stakeholders to address the urgent challenges in rural Māori healthcare.

The increasing number of Māori and Pacific students studying medicine and surgery at the University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka is a “good news story”, says a leader in public health.