The author and intensive care specialist on why he’s hopeful the prime minister will this week make a transformational announcement on Māori health. Maybe it was no coincidence that the country’s new cancer control agency, Te Aho o Te Kahu, released its first report in the week leading up to the commemorations at Waitangi. The … Read more
The lack of Māori language or symbolism on the SuperGold Card isn’t just a design issue – it’s emblematic of the overwhelming whiteness of Aotearoa’s superannuant population, writes former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres. I’ve enjoyed the SuperGold Card since I retired eight years ago. I appreciate the free public transport, the odd discount … Read more
Summer reissue: In the third episode of all new Bad News, Alice recounts her overwhelmingly positive experiences with the health system and wonders: why isn’t it the same for all New Zealanders? First published August 18, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its … Read more
Summer reissue: History warns that we should be wary of the misuse of power in the name of public health, writes Scott Hamilton. First published on April 2, 2020. Content warning: This feature contains distressing descriptions of racism against Māori. In the winter of 1913 a group of Māori appeared in the office of Arthur … Read more
New Zealand is one of the only developed countries still battling rheumatic fever. Now Cure Kids is giving its largest ever amount of funding to six studies into the childhood illness. Former Auckland Blues player Matt Johnson apologised for the loud tick coming from his chest as he stood up to tell his story of … Read more
The pandemic has only exposed the systemic healthcare inequities that already existed, write two NZ health professionals working on the Covid response at opposite ends of the world. Far from being some “great leveller”, the Covid-19 pandemic has proven to be more like water in a New Zealand rental home: seeping into all of the … Read more
A new study shows systemic gaps in the health system are making it much harder for Māori with eating disorders to access the specialist support they need. Alice Webb-Liddall reports. Social barriers, a lack of culturally appropriate services and stigma mean Māori are much less likely to have access to specialist treatment for eating disorders, … Read more
In her last column, Laura O’Connell Rapira suggested how the government could be a better Treaty partner. This week, she reimagines completely new power structures. Between 2012 and 2015, Margaret Mutu and Moana Jackson convened 252 hui with Māori to imagine the future of Aotearoa in 2040, 200 years after the signing of Te Tiriti … Read more
A public health professor at the University of Otago says a debate about capping Māori and Pasifika medical school admissions has come ‘out of the blue’. Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports for RNZ. Pressure is mounting on the University of Otago Medical School to front up to Māori and Pasifika about a proposal to cap admissions … Read more
Major reports published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today highlight ongoing inequity for Māori in health. Two papers published today, written by a combined 16 Māori and non-Māori academics and researchers, uphold what is known to be true by many: that Māori and Pasefika experience different health outcomes to everyone else. The first, a … Read more
In all my dealings with the healthcare system I’ve received incredible service – so why isn’t this the case for all New Zealanders? Watch Alice Snedden’s Bad News – Healthcare Inequity and other episodes in the series here. When I was in primary school one of my great brags was that I’d never been to … Read more
In the third episode of all new Bad News, Alice recounts her overwhelmingly positive experiences with the health system and wonders: why isn’t it the same for all New Zealanders? With an average lifespan seven years shorter than Pākehā, Māori have long suffered systemic inequity in our healthcare system. Alice, on the other hand, hasn’t … Read more
The Health and Disability System Review released this week nearly gets it right but it still sets us up to fail, writes consultant and health advocate Gabrielle Baker. If you like reading long reports about the health and disability system, Tuesday was your day. The long-awaited, highly-anticipated, Health and Disability System Review was finally released … Read more
As we face what seems to be the tail end of the first (and hopefully final) wave of Covid-19 in Aotearoa, research is being done to examine whether people of different ethnic and socio-economic statuses have the same ability to respond to the crisis. New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 has been heralded all over the … Read more
Where is the ‘other’ Treaty partner in this pandemic response, asks public health expert Rhys Jones. Looking at the outward face of the Covid-19 pandemic response in Aotearoa/New Zealand, you’d be forgiven for wondering where one of the Treaty partners is. No matter where you look – cabinet, those delivering official communications, experts informing the … Read more
The Māori response to the Covid-19 crisis has been swift and strong. It’s not the first time (nor will it be the last) that Māori have stepped up in a national emergency, writes historian Aroha Harris. In recent weeks I’ve been pondering the iwi Māori capacity to mobilise and noticing how quickly and efficiently Māori … Read more
Law professor Dr Claire Charters (Te Arawa) lays out Aotearoa’s dual legal systems and the government’s obligations to both in these uncertain times. The Covid-19 era is like a fast-moving picture which perpetually develops and re-develops. The picture adjusts with ever-changing information on the relevant health-science, the impact on the economy, the need for restrictions … Read more
Māori will likely make up the worst unemployment figures in the forthcoming economic recession. Things can’t go back to the way they were, writes Joshua Hitchcock. Our world has changed. While it is too early to know with any certainty what the full impact of this crisis will be on Māori, what we can surmise … Read more
History warns that we should be wary of the misuse of power in the name of public health, writes Scott Hamilton. Content warning: This feature contains distressing descriptions of racism against Māori. In the winter of 1913 a group of Māori appeared in the office of Arthur Manning, the mayor of Hamilton. The visitors had … Read more
Māori authorities have acted swiftly on behalf of their people, but some say they’re concerned about the lack of communication from government. Māori have not fared well in pandemics of times past. Health statistics remain grim compared with other demographics, and there are fears that should the Covid-19 coronavirus spread via community transmission, it’s Māori … Read more
Māori have fared worst in every pandemic New Zealand has seen. Measures must be taken to ensure equity during the Covid-19 outbreak or history will repeat, writes public health physician and senior lecturer Dr Rhys Jones. Covid-19 is about to hit Aotearoa in earnest. The New Zealand government’s response to date has generally been received … Read more
There’s a big pay disparity between nurses working for Māori health providers and nurses working at DHBs. And Māori voters aren’t going to ignore signs of indifference, writes Morgan Godfery. At the last election I was a know-nothing 25-year-old who truly, genuinely, thought a Labour-led government would catch up on nine lost years under National. … Read more
Our health system is broken. It has betrayed its community rather than served it. And the solution lies with the voices of patients, writes Glenn Colquhoun, a New Zealand poet and doctor based on the Kāpiti coast. When Māui first hauled up the North Island of New Zealand it was smooth. His brothers sat beside … Read more
Hakihea (December) brings clear skies, tui chicks and plenty of energy. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. Matiti Muramura is finally here, the third summer phase, indicating bright blue skies stretched across our shores. We look forward to golden days and bright, starry nights. Our tohu (signs) are the rising of Rehua … Read more
Hāpai Te Hauora CEO Selah Hart responds to recent criticism of the Māori Public Health organisation’s stance on cannabis law reform. The negative feedback highlights a lack of understanding of what public health really is, she writes. In November we were told to “stay in our lane” during a lively but poorly-informed discussion on The … Read more
Oranga Tamariki’s review into their own practices of uplifting newborn babies, spurred by a Newsroom investigation from June, has been released today. Here’s why it happened and what it says. Why was there a review? In June, Newsroom released a video showing the attempted uplift of a Māori newborn from his 19-year-old mother in the … Read more
Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa) has been looking to Māori stories and storytellers to learn more about our gender identities before colonisation. There’s a lot to be read between the lines, she writes. Te ao Māori can be a very gendered place to be. In some settings, your gender can tell you where you stand, what … Read more
The first ever Oral Health Equity Symposium was held on Thursday and Friday last week. Gabrielle Baker went along to see how the best in New Zealand’s dental sector are hoping to tackle inequities in New Zealand’s oral healthcare. It’s no secret that our health system works better for some than it does for others. … Read more
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded. *All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved Newsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt to ‘uplift’ a newborn baby at a Hawke’s Bay maternity ward has alarmed … Read more