A specialist in public health medicine says the Ministry of Health is not using the most effective methods available for bowel-screening.
Bowel cancer rates in New Zealand are among the highest in the world.
Otago Medical School associate professor Brian Cox is recommending the ministry make available a flexible sigmoidoscopy test, which involves looking at the last third of the large bowel.
He said it has been shown in Britain to reduce the risk of dying of bowel cancer by 40 percent in people aged between 55 and 64.
Professor Cox said the unavailability of that screening in New Zealand continues to be a major handicap in preventing cases of bowel cancer and related deaths.
