A pilot programme to screen for bowel cancer is being launched in Auckland on Wednesday.
The Waitemata District Health Board has been given $24 million to run the four-year scheme, which will include free testing for those between the ages of 50 and 74.
Bowel cancer is the country's second biggest cancer killer and nearly 3000 people were diagnosed with it last year.
Up to half that number die from the disease every year - a death rate that's among the highest in the developed world.
Medical specialists say early detection through a colonoscopy dramatically increases survival chances.
The Government will decide at the end of the pilot programme whether to introduce screening nationwide, at an estimated annual cost of $60 million.
