Working to promote Pacific health and wellbeing

Bula Vinaka, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Fakatalofa atu, Kia orana, Mālō e lelei, Mālō nī, Talofa lava and warm Pacific greetings.

There are about 14,000 Pacific people living in the Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health region (Canterbury, South Canterbury and the West Coast). This includes Pacific nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Pacific communities are built around the churches and ethnic groups that play an important part in community life. Many Pacific people have barriers around accessing health information and health services. This is due to many issues such as language, health literacy, transport and finances.

Our Pacific Health Promoter strives to work across the areas of health and its social determinants that affect Pacific communities, especially financial concerns, smoking and housing issues. This includes acting as a link between the health system and Pacific ethnic communities.

• Download an infographic on factors affecting the health of Pacific people in Canterbury (Canterbury DHB Planning and Funding 2017).

Some examples of how Te Mana Ora | Community and Public Health works with the Pacific community include:

• Building awareness in Pacific communities to identify and respond to issues that affect their health.
• Co-ordinating community health education seminars and programmes on identified issues.
• Providing advice and culturally-appropriate information on issues that affect the health of local Pacific ethnic communities – in partnership with Pasifika health providers and Pegasus Health.
• Acting as a point of reference for health agencies wishing to communicate with different Pacific communities.
• Raising awareness for health professionals on Pacific cultural needs and perspectives.
• Ongoing networking and consultation with the Pacific ethnic communities.
• Working with local Pacific agencies and interagency groups such as Canterbury Pasifika Churches Network and the Christchurch City Council Multicultural Advisory Group.
• Working collaboratively on relevant health issues with Pacific health organisations, the Pacific Caucus, Pacific Reference Group and the Integrated Respiratory Service Development Group (part of the Canterbury Clinical Network).

Documents

• Atoatoali’o National Pacific Disability Approach (Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People 2025).
• Tupu Ola Moui: Pacific Health Chart Book 2025 series (Ministry of Health 2025).
• Achieving equity of Pacific mental health and wellbeing outcomes (Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission 2024).
• Pacific Peoples’ Nicotine-Free Futures: Understanding Pacific Peoples’ perceptions and practices of vaping (Matada Research 2023).
• Pacific connectedness and wellbeing in the pandemic (Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission 2023).
• Alcohol harm has no place in our culture: Pasifika Alcohol Harm Sector and Community Engagement Report (Te Whatu Ora – Health Promotion 2023).
• Te Mana Ola: The Pacific Health Strategy (Ministry of Health 2023).

• Action plan for Pacific Education 2020-2023: 2023 Refresh (Ministry of Education 2023).
• Pasifika Peoples Perceptions of Health and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand (Le Va 2022).
• Kapasa – The Pacific Policy Analysis Tool (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2022).
• Yavu – Foundations of Pacific Engagement Tool (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2022).
• Ola Manuia: Interim Pacific Health Plan July 2022–June 2024 (Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand 2022).
• Fale mo Aiga – Pacific Housing Strategy and Action Plan 2030 (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development 2022).
• All of Government Pacific Wellbeing Strategy (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2022).

• Pacific Economy Research Report on Unpaid Work and Volunteering in Aotearoa (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2021).
• Bula Sautu – A window on quality 2021: Pacific health in the year of COVID-19 (Healthy Quality and Safety Commission 2021).
• Taeao Malama – Alcohol use among Pacific peoples (Health Promotion Agency 2020).
• Pacific Aotearoa Status Report: A snapshot (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2020).
• Ola Manuia: Pacific Health and Wellbeing Action Plan 2020–2025 (Ministry of Health 2020).
• ʹAla Moʹui Progress Report – Pacific Health Care Utilisation (Ministry of Health 2018).
• Pacific Aotearoa Lalanga Fou (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2018).

Children and young people

• Talavou o le Moana: The Health and Wellbeing of Pacific secondary school students in Aotearoa New Zealand (Youth19 Research Group, the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington 2024).
• Pasifika Youth Online Gaming and Gambling Research: Are online video games a gateway to problem gambling among Pasifika youth? (Mapu Maia and Moana Research 2021).
• Youth’19: Brief on Pacific Rainbow Young people (University of Auckland 2021).
• Youth’19: Brief on Pacific Young people with a disability or chronic condition (University of Auckland 2021).
• Tau Amanaki Onoono Ki Mua – Pacific peoples’ youth substance use (Health Promotion Agency 2020).
• ʹAla Moʹui Progress Report – Pacific Child Health (Ministry of Health 2018).

Downloads

• B4 School Check: Turning 4? – Samoan.
• Breastfeeding Your Baby – Samoan.
• Cervical Screening: A talanoa about your choices.
• Meningococcal Disease: Know the Symptoms – Tongan.

The Ministry of Health is no longer providing printed copies of some resources in Pacific languages.
Download and print Ministry of Health resources by Pacific language (HealthEd).

Links

• All Right?
• Ministry of Health.
• Pacific Futures.
• Le Va.
• Tapuaki – for Pacific parents (currently unavailable while being updated).
• Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

O Luga o le Motu App launched

The Tino e Tasi Preschool in Christchurch, has broken barriers with the launch of a Samoan Language App produced in-house and with the direct participation of its own pre-schoolers!

Zohar Marshall of Tino e Tasi says the O Luga o le Motu App was produced by asking the three to four year-olds at the pre-school to draw a picture of a game they like to play on a tablet or phone at home.

The idea behind the App was to make learning a game and something the tamaiti would relate to. “The kids were at the centre of the project from the very start and it’s their ideas that drove it. It is interactive and has a real Sesame Street vibe. They just love it,” Zohar says.

• Download the O Luga o le Motu app from iTunes.