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’.
Dementia app For Māori launches
University of Auckland media release: 30th March 2021
An app to help Māori affected by mate wareware (dementia) and to raise awareness of the disease has been launched.
The app is called Mate Wareware and was developed by researchers from the University of Auckland and AUT University following the largest-ever study of Māori affected by dementia. “Kaumatuatanga Ō Te Roro – The Ageing Brain” found the disease is poorly understood within Māori communities and whānau have difficulty accessing information that might help.
Dr Makarena Dudley from the University of Auckland and Brain Research New Zealand, says she is delighted that the app is now in the hands of those who need it.
“The Mate Wareware app has been developed to be Māori-friendly and has been co-created through collaboration with end-users such as kaumātua and whānau who helped identify topics, and user-tested it,” she says.
“Tikanga Māori is central to the app, with an introduction and karakia by kaumātua, and everyone featured in it is Māori – from the social worker to the whānau affected by mate wareware.”
Topics covered in the app include what mate wareware is and what Māori understandings of it is, the types and causes of it, how to look after whānau who are affected by it and how to identify if someone might be suffering from it.
Significant support goes to Māori and whānau most at risk of COVID-19
Ministry of Health media statement: 10th March 2021
Associate Minister for Health (Māori) Hon Peeni Henare is pleased to confirm that the timing and sequencing of the COVID-19 Vaccine Programme has a strong focus on protecting Māori whānau.
“The COVID-19 vaccination programme is the largest and most intensive vaccination programme the health sector has ever embarked on and we are ensuring that whānau are at the centre,” Peeni Henare said.
“We know Māori are more likely to be worse off from the effects of COVID-19. That is why Māori needs are at the forefront of the Government’s Vaccination Programme.
“Our plan is simple. First protect whānau most at risk of picking up the virus in their workplace, in doing so reducing the risk of future outbreaks and then protecting our elders who are most at risk of getting seriously ill if they get the virus.
“We know that elder Māori and Pacific peoples are more likely to live with whānau rather than in an aged care facility. This is why from this month we are allocating 40,000 vaccine courses to Māori and Pacific health providers to target vaccinations within the communities they service in order to reach these people.”
- Find out more on the roll out of the COVID-19 Vaccine Programme (Ministry of Health).
- Find out about tiakina tō hauora during the COVID-19 pandemic (Te Pānui Rūnaka article – 194KB PDF).
Documents
Latest Māori Health Publications
- Mana to Mana: Principles of ‘Mana to Mana’ Practice in Community Food Distribution (Kore Hiakai Zero Hunger Collective 2021).
- COVID-19 Māori Vaccine and Immunisation Plan (Ministry of Health 2021).
- Alcohol Use in New Zealand Survey (AUiNZ) 2019/20 – Māori results (Health Promotion Agency 2021).
- Whakamaua: Māori Health Action Plan 2020-2025 (Ministry of Health 2020).
- Updated COVID-19 Māori Response Action Plan (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).
- 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).
- Te Ohonga Ake: The Health Status of Māori Children and Young People in NZ (NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service 2012).
- 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).
Māori Health Tools, Models and Strategies
- 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
Eli-Ana Maiara
Ph: +64 3 768 1160
MĀORI RELATIONSHIP MANAGER
Gail McLauchlan
Ph: +64 3 364 1777
Te Mana Ora Pānui
Nau mai haere mai. This pānui aims to share kōrero on the mahi happening within Community and Public Health and our Māori communities.
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 resource gives life to a Māori tradition that aligns wellbeing with the phases of the moon [Te Pānui Rūnaka article – 184KB].
- Find out about Te Waioratanga ki Waitaha 2019-2020 (All Right?).
- Read more about the Māori wellness leaders featured in the new Hikitia te Hā videos [Te Pānui Rūnaka article – 346KB].
All Right? has created season-based activities that whānau can do together. Vaea Coe (Ngāi Tahu, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou) from the All Right? team says “When it comes to the wellbeing of our community, it all comes back to whānau. 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.
