US Indians beat Maori for health

The health gap between Maori and European New Zealanders is wider than between Native Americans and the United States majority white population, a researcher from Auckland University has found.

The results of the study by senior lecturer Dale Bramley, comparing disparities in indigenous health, appeared in the May edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

Dr Bramley believes the situation could be significantly improved in New Zealand by introducing policies to reduce inequalities, such as providing more services specifically to Maori.

He compared a range of health indicators in the two countries, including life expectancy and infant mortality, immunisation, cervical cancer and breast cancer screening, smoking, obesity and diabetes, some cardiac procedures and kidney transplants.

"In the case of nearly all of these indicators, the health status of Maori people was found to be lower than that of American Indians, when compared to the majority European populations."

For example, Maori males' life expectancy was 8.9 years less than that of non-Maori males. The corresponding figure for Native American males was 7.4 years. Maori showed the highest prevalence of smoking with 48.6 per cent of adults - twice that of the majority population. In the US, 33 per cent of adult Native Americans were smokers - 36 per cent higher than the white population.

"The two countries differ in their approaches to reducing the disparities in the health status of indigenous peoples, and in recent years the United States has had considerable success in eliminating these differences in some areas," Dr Bramley said.

"This is particularly the case with childhood immunisation programmes, where there is no difference in the coverage between American Indians and the white majority.

"In the US they have a system of delivering health services directly to the indigenous population.

It is controlled by American Indians and community based, so it [reaches] directly into American Indian communities.

"In New Zealand, while we have around 200 Maori health providers, many in rural areas, the majority of Maori people still attend non-Maori health providers and the responsiveness of non-Maori providers to Maori could be further enhanced."

- NZPA