Celebrated Newcastle surgeon Kelvin Kong is helping launch a national program to address high cancer mortality rates among indigenous Australians.
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Dr Kong, Australia's first Aboriginal surgeon, said the Yarn For Life promotion would target indigenous people's reluctance to talk about cancer and seek screening programs and treatment.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 40 per cent more likely to die after a cancer diagnosis than non-indigenous Australians.
"One of the huge things that concerns me, as we're closing the gap and doing well with some of that work, cancer's becoming a really huge health problem and is now the second leading cause of death with our mob," Dr Kong said.
"It's one of those areas in Aboriginal health that people don't necessarily talk about or feel comfortable talking about it.
"There are so many other issues that are on their plate that it becomes quite hard to talk about, or there's a shame factor, in the sense of, 'Why am I going to burden someone with a lump when I've got other things [going on]?'
"The other part of it is that unconscious bias: 'There's no point going up there and talking about a lump, because no one's actually going to do anything about it. It's just a lump. This is not really sickness.'
"And it gets to a stage where it's too late."
The ear, nose and throat surgeon and University of Newcastle associate professor said it was important for health services to be culturally aware.
"Those worse outcomes relate to a whole lot of factors, ranging from late presentation to fear of the medical services, the fear of talking about it, the fear of understanding it.
"This Yarn For Life is a really interesting concept, because we're not looking at the high end of radiation and surgery and all that kind of stuff.
"This is getting right back to basics, saying, 'You know what? If you've got a lump, let's go get it checked out.' There's no shame in it, no harm in it."
The program, produced by the federal government's Cancer Australia organisation, includes pamphlets, phone lines and a video showing three indigenous cancer survivors talking about their experiences.
"Sometimes when you can identify with those faces and stories, it'll make it a bit easier for you," Dr Kong said.
The Cancer Australia advisory council member said many indigenous families avoided cancer screening and treatment because of past experience.
"Unfortunately, for a lot of us the cancer journey we've had has been a horrific journey of late-stage presentation.
"And when you get poor outcomes associated with that, that kind of scars the whole family."