A Government bowel cancer "atlas'' released yesterday shows the Southern District Health Board region's overall age-adjusted rate is second in the country, behind South Canterbury's.
But in the 60 to 69 age group, its incidence is the highest in New Zealand: 222 people per 100,000 people, compared with the national average of 164 per 100,000 people.
Announced in the May Budget, the bowel screening programme will screen people aged 60 to 74, but Southern is not among the first DHBs covered.
Bowel Cancer New Zealand spokeswoman Sarah Derrett, an associate professor at the Dunedin School of Medicine, said the figures showed the "huge need'' for screening.
"It suggests to me that there's an urgent need to roll out a national screening programme, and we ought to be starting mighty quick in the Southern DHB region.
"New Zealand is among the world's worst in terms of bowel cancer rates internationally, so here we are among the worst of the worst,'' Prof Derrett said.
Released by the Health Quality and Safety Commission, the data shows SDHB had the fourth-highest mortality rate in the first three months after surgery, at 6.8%.
The national average was 5.4%.
The atlas shows a third of SDHB patients died within two years of diagnosis, compared with the national average of 31.4%.
The DHB with the highest two-year mortality was Tairawhiti DHB (38%).
The data shows just over a quarter of people at SDHB are diagnosed with bowel cancer after a trip to the emergency department, the same as the national average.
The commission said it was releasing the data as a starting point to find out why there were variations between DHBs.
Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman's office declined to answer questions about the screening programme, referring them to the Ministry of Health.
The MOH referred to a statement on its website that says all DHBs are expected to start screening by the end of 2019.
"Hutt Valley and Wairarapa DHBs begin screening the eligible 60 to 74 year age group from mid-2017, with all other DHBs following in stages.
"The order in which DHBs will join the roll-out will be finalised after DHBs have confirmed their readiness to begin screening,'' the statement says.
