The late Talei Morrison's Smear Your Mea campaign, which encourages wāhine to undertake cervical screening, has been named the winner of the Hiwa i te Rangi Award for Community at the Matariki Awards tonight.
The Smear Your Mea mission is to raise awareness of cervical cancer and encourage women to have a smear test. It has been described as one of the most successful Māori health initiatives.
The campaign was launched by kapa haka personality Talei Morrison out of frustration at not finding educational material that connected with her as a Māori woman.
In 2017, she was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer. While fighting for her life, she poured her heart into the campaign. Morrison passed away in June last year, aged 42.
Screening programmes for both breast and cervical cancer in New Zealand show that for both these coverage rates were lower for Māori than for non-Māori.
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Other finalists for the award tonight included the Kai Matariki Trust and Tukau Legacy.
Kai Matariki Trust is an initiative founded by a PE teacher and Māori games exponent Harko Brown. The trust has gained global attention around its focus on preserving traditional Maori games and customs.
Tukau Legacy is a social enterprise founded by lawyer Season-Mary Downs, all profits from Tukau Legacy go towards funding children’s education, community initiatives, cultural development and whānau in need.