Prostate cancer advocates turn their attention to improving subsequent care for Maori

The improved tracking of men with prostate cancer, especially those of Maori origin, brings together health professionals from both sides of the Tasman.

The Oranga Tu Project, a collaboration between the Movember Foundation and the Urology Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ), aims to proactively support Maori men and their whānau during cancer treatment and beyond .

"In reality, we do not measure what is most important for patients, they obviously want to survive the disease, but [it’s also equally important] they find a life as normal as possible, "said Paul Villanti, CEO of the Foundation for Australia and New Zealand.

"Remarkably, we do not measure that … people leave the hospital and we do not know clearly if the man who was treated for prostate cancer came back to life because we do not do not ask it. "

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While the results register was intended to capture all men diagnosed with prostate cancer, regardless of ethnicity, the focus was on Maori because of unfair results in morbidity and mortality. mortality.

Maori men are 72% more likely to die of prostate cancer once diagnosed than non-Maori; According to statistics, Stephen Mark, vice president of USANZ, is the result of a complex system.

"It is well known that cancers of prostate cancer and other regions have less favorable health consequences … it's not because we're genetically Maori, it's partly to navigate the system.

"There are barriers in the health sector and part of this project is to identify some of the processes that will improve the path taken by patients," he said.

To help evaluate the success of the registry, researchers from the University of Otago will follow some patients throughout their cancer journey, looking at potential barriers and the steps to take to remove them.

Although this year's Movember funding goal is based on the registry project, Villanti said the partnership would also fund additional initiatives to improve the health of men with prostate cancer.

This included improving the numbers of early diagnosis, reducing expensive and unnecessary treatments, and improving surgical care.

"We are at a very interesting pivotal point with many of our programs going out of research mode and can act quickly to make these initiatives accessible to all concerned.

"We want to strengthen the idea, across the Australian and New Zealand health system, of measuring the results that matter to patients and of restoring these data to clinicians and patients."