Making a difference for Māori health
Community and Public Health is committed to ensuring positive Māori health outcomes and reducing inequities. We have a number of projects that specifically address Māori health needs throughout Canterbury, South Canterbury and the West Coast.
Community and Public Health embraces a model of best practice (Te Pae Māhutonga) that promotes and brings together the value of traditional and contemporary viewpoints on Māori wellness and current research to enhance its service delivery.
Our role is working with Māori to assist and to strengthen whānau, hapū and iwi – in addition to liaising with non-Māori.
Community and Public Health works in Māori settings such as Marae, Kura and Kōhanga Reo. Staff aim to support Māori communities to make their own healthy choices, and create their own healthy environments.
Community and Public Health have a valuable role in contributing at a population level to ‘living healthy lifestyles’, ‘participating fully in society’ and ‘confidently participating in te ao Māori’.
Ao Mai te Rā: Combatting racism in the health and disability system
Ao Mai te Rā: the Anti-Racism Kaupapa is a Ministry of Health initiative to support the way the health system understands, reacts and responds to racism in health.
Eliminating all forms of racism is critical to achieving health equity and the vision of pae ora – healthy futures for all New Zealanders.
Ao Mai te Rā will help us deliver effective and appropriate stewardship of the system, and enable the right for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, to live, thrive and flourish according to their own philosophies and ways of being.
Racism is increasingly recognised as a key determinant of health that results in avoidable and unfair disparities in health outcomes across racial or ethnic groupings. Within Aotearoa New Zealand, the presence of racism in the health and disability system and its impact on health outcomes has been well evidenced and researched.
As kaitiaki of the system, the Ministry of Health has an important role to play in creating an environment where all people can access the health care they need without fear of racial discrimination. The Ministry has outlined a commitment to addressing racism and discrimination in all forms.
Documents
Latest Māori Health Publications
- Towards understanding the role of kai in the complex lives of whānau (Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu 2023).
- Pae Tū: Hauora Māori Strategy (Ministry of Health 2023).
- Kāinga Kore: The Stage One Report of the Housing Policy and Services Kaupapa Inquiry on Māori Homelessness – Wai 2750 (Waitangi Tribunal 2023).
- Nōku te Ao: Sovereignty of the Māori Mind (Health Promotion Agency 2023).
- Maranga Mai! The dynamics and impacts of white supremacy, racism, and colonisation upon tangata whenua in Aotearoa New Zealand (Human Rights Commission 2022).
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi and alcohol law (Health Promotion Agency 2022).
- Position statement and working definitions for racism and anti-racism in the health system in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Health 2022).
- Evaluation of the Māori Influenza and Measles Vaccination Programme: In Pursuit of Māori Health Equity (Ministry of Health 2022).
- Review of the Ministry of Health-funded Rongoā Sector (Ministry of Health 2022).
- Māori Māmā views and experiences of vaccinating their pēpi and tamariki: A qualitative Kaupapa Māori study (Health Promotion Agency 2021).
- Role of Māori in the transition to a low-emissions economy (Ministry for the Environment 2021).
- Funding to Māori Health Providers 2015/16 to 2019/20 (Ministry of Health 2021).
- More Than Just a Jab: Evaluation of the Māori Influenza Vaccination Programme as part of the COVID-19 Māori Health Response (Ministry of Health 2021).
- Mana to Mana: Principles of ‘Mana to Mana’ Practice in Community Food Distribution (Kore Hiakai Zero Hunger Collective 2021).
- Alcohol Use in New Zealand Survey (AUiNZ) 2019/20 – Māori results (Health Promotion Agency 2021).
- Te Tapeke Fair Futures in Aotearoa: A fair go for Māori (Royal Society Te Apārangi 2020).
- Whakamaua: Māori Health Action Plan 2020-2025 (Ministry of Health 2020).
- Wai 2575 Māori Health Trends Report (Ministry of Health 2019).
- Hauora: Report on Stage One of the Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry (Waitangi Tribunal 2019).
- Te Oranga Hinengaro: Māori Mental Wellbeing (Health Promotion Agency 2018).
- Māori attitudes and behaviours towards alcohol (Health Promotion Agency 2018).
- Te Ohonga Ake: The Health Status of Māori Children and Young People in New Zealand – Series Two (NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service 2017).
- Ngā Hua A Tāne Rore: the Benefits of Kapa Haka (Ministry for Culture and Heritage 2014).
- The Health of Māori Adults and Children, 2011–2013 (Ministry of Health 2014).
- Mātātuhi Tuawhenua: Health of Rural Māori 2012 (Ministry of Health).
- A Focus on Māori Nutrition: Findings from the 2008/09 NZ Adult Nutrition Survey (Ministry of Health 2012).
- Māori Smoking and Tobacco Use 2011 (Ministry of Health).
- Tatau Kura Tangata: Health of Older Māori Chart Book 2011 (Ministry of Health).
- Hauora Waitaha I: Health Profile for Māori in Canterbury (Community and Public Health 2010).
COVID-19 response
- Exercising rangatiratanga during the COVID-19 pandemic (Te Hiringa Mahara | Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission 2023).
- 2021 COVID-19 Māori Health Protection Plan: December 2022 Monitoring Report (Ministry of Health 2023).
- 2021 COVID-19 Māori Health Protection Plan: May 2022 Monitoring Report (Ministry of Health 2022).
- COVID-19 Māori Health Protection Plan (Ministry of Health 2021).
- COVID-19 Māori Vaccine and Immunisation Plan (Ministry of Health 2021).
- Haumaru: The COVID-19 Priority Report – Wai 2575 (Waitangi Tribunal 2021).
Children and young people
- Youth’19: Brief on Rainbow Rangatahi Māori (University of Auckland 2021).
- Youth’19: Brief on Rangatahi with a disability or chronic condition (University of Auckland 2021).
- What Makes a Good Life for Tamariki and Rangatahi Māori? (Oranga Tamariki and the Children’s Commissioner 2021).
- Poipoia te kākano kia puawai: Family structure, family change and the wellbeing of tamariki Māori (Ministry of Social Development 2020).
- Te Ohonga Ake: The Determinants of Health for Māori Children and Young People (University of Otago 2014).
- The Health and Wellbeing of Māori NZ Secondary School Students in 2012/ Te Ara Whakapiki Taitamariki: Youth’12 (University of Auckland 2013).
- Hapū Ora: Wellbeing in the early stages of life (Massey University 2013).
Māori Health Tools, Models and Strategies
- Te Hiringa Hauora Research Framework (Health Promotion Agency 2022).
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi-based practice in health promotion (STIR: Stop Institutional Racism 2017).
- The Guide to He Korowai Oranga – Māori Health Strategy (Ministry of Health 2014).
- Whānau Ora: Transforming our futures (Ministry of Health 2011).
- The Health Equity Assessment Tool: A User’s Guide (Ministry of Health 2008).
- TUHANZ – a Treaty Understanding of Hauora in Aotearoa-New Zealand (Health Promotion Forum 2002).
- Te Pae Māhutonga: A model for Māori health promotion (Mason Durie 1999).
Downloads
Download or order resources from the Community Health Information Centre.
- Me Mutu Tātou/ Let’s All Quit.
- Me ū ki te wā tika hei whakatō i te kano ārai mate ki tō tamaiti.
- Aroha in Action (Ministry of Social Development).
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi/ The Treaty of Waitangi.
Links
For further information, contact:
CANTERBURY
Ph: +64 3 364 1777
SOUTH CANTERBURY
Gwen Angelm-Bower
Ph: +64 3 687 2600
WEST COAST
Shanita Whittle
Ph: +64 3 768 1160
MĀORI RELATIONSHIPS MANAGER
Gail McLauchlan
Ph: +64 3 364 1777
The role of the Te Aka Wahi Ora | Māori Health Authority from 1st July 2022
Te Aka Wahi Ora will work in partnership with Manatū Hauora | the Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand. It is responsible for ensuring the health system delivers equitable outcomes for Māori.
It has been set up as an independent statutory authority to drive improvement in hauora Māori.
Hauora and oranga resources from the All Right? campaign
Hikitia te Hā is a simple breathing exercise developed by Rawiri Hindle and supported by the All Right? campaign. Three new Hikitia te Hā videos have been developed after the success of the first one. The exercises are extended into tai chi, taiaha and yoga.
- The Maramataka calendar gives life to a Māori tradition that aligns wellbeing with the phases of the moon.
- Find out about Te Waioratanga ki Waitaha directory.
All Right? has created season-based activities that whānau can do together. The activities are all about looking to strengthen the everyday magic that happens within the whānau.
He Tohu Ora: Find out about Māori wellbeing in greater Christchurch
He Tohu Ora is part of the Canterbury Wellbeing Index and presents indicators that reflect a Māori view of wellbeing. 19 indicators were selected on the basis of a te ao Māori worldview and the availability of suitable quantitative data.
For example you can find information on:
- how many Māori in Canterbury can speak and understand te reo;
- how Māori rate their whānau wellbeing and their own quality of life; and
- how important Māori feel taha wairua and engagement in Māori culture are to their wellbeing.
Whānau, community leaders and policy makers are encouraged to explore the data and use it to put the wellbeing of Māori at the front and centre of decision making.
He Tohu Ora was developed in liaison with Ngāi Tahu and Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu.
