Health system racist against Maori, study says

New Zealand's health system is racist and discriminates against Maori, a report published today in UK medical journal The Lancet argues.

The report, which surveyed over 10,000 New Zealanders, studied discrimination when approaching a health professional, in buying or renting a house, and in employment.

Just over 4000 of those questioned were Maori and 6000 were Pakeha.

The study, led by Professor Peter Davis from the University of Auckland, claims that 4.5 per cent of Maori experienced unfair treatment by a health professional based on their ethnicity, compared to 1.5 per cent of Pakeha.

The authors said: "The findings of this study show that deprivation and experiences of perceived racial discrimination contribute to inequalities in health outcomes between Maori and Europeans.

"Indeed, the combination of deprivation and discrimination as measured seems to account for much of the disparity in the health outcomes assessed."

The study concludes that improving Maori health should take racism into account when putting policies in place.

Maori have an 8-9 year lower life expectancy than non-Maori, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The study follows another report in The Lancet last week that showed Maori were more at risk of something going wrong in their treatment in hospital than non-Maori, suggesting they receive less than optimal care.

It showed 14 per cent of hospital admissions for Maori were as a result of poor practice by health professionals, compared with 11 per cent of non-Maori.

Researchers said they could not find a cause for the disparity.

Professor Davis, who is Prime Minister Helen Clark's husband, said: "Despite a predominantly publicly funded hospital system, our findings suggest that hospital care received by Maori is marginally poorer than that received by New Zealand citizens of non-Maori/non-Pacific origin".

An accompanying opinion piece by a professor of public health at Edinburgh Univeristy says that the study's interpretation is "plausible" but there could be other factors.

Prof Raj Bhopal said: "There are alternative interpretations, eg, that Maoris who have poor health are more sensitive to perceived racism; that findings arise from a lack of cross-cultural validity of the questionnaire or other artifacts; and that other risk factors that are associated with racism and socioeconomic deprivation are the causes of these inequalities."

- NZPA