diff -r 40e8b39199da configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac	Sat Dec 10 17:34:46 2016 +0100
+++ b/configure.ac	Sun Dec 11 15:01:02 2016 +0100
@@ -4889,7 +4889,9 @@
 
 # first curses header check
 ac_save_cppflags="$CPPFLAGS"
-CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I/usr/include/ncursesw"
+if test "$cross_compiling" = no; then
+  CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I/usr/include/ncursesw"
+fi
 
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(curses.h ncurses.h)
 
diff -r 40e8b39199da setup.py
--- a/setup.py	Sat Dec 10 17:34:46 2016 +0100
+++ b/setup.py	Sun Dec 11 15:01:02 2016 +0100
@@ -1350,7 +1350,8 @@
         panel_library = 'panel'
         if curses_library == 'ncursesw':
             curses_defines.append(('HAVE_NCURSESW', '1'))
-            curses_includes.append('/usr/include/ncursesw')
+            if not cross_compiling:
+                curses_includes.append('/usr/include/ncursesw')
             # Bug 1464056: If _curses.so links with ncursesw,
             # _curses_panel.so must link with panelw.
             panel_library = 'panelw'