Dr Amohia Boulton said she expected a significant focus in Budget 2022 on Māori health. Photo / LDR
Dr Amohia Boulton said she expected a significant focus in Budget 2022 on Māori health. Photo / LDR
Two leading voices on Māori health in Whanganui say the funding announced in the Budget was a good start but there is still a long way to go to address unequal health outcomes.
The Māori Health Authority, Te Mana Hauora, would receive $181.1 million over the next four years.
Thiswas 1.7 per cent of the $11.1 billion Health NZ would receive.
Te Oranganui business manager Elijah Pue said although he was supportive of the health reforms, he wanted more equitable funding between the Māori Health Authority and Health NZ.
Whakauae Research Services director for Māori health and development Dr Amohia Boulton said she expected a significant focus in Budget 2022 on Māori health.
This was due to the extent of the health reforms, and the ongoing inequities in health outcomes between Māori and non-Māori.
"For many years Māori health providers have talked about the need for longer-term, more sustainable funding to allow them to work with their communities more effectively."
Elijah Pue is the business manager of Te Oranganui. Photo / Bevan Conley
She said this meant an increased number of Māori leaders at all levels of the health sector - from decision-makers to clinicians.
"Investment into building the capacity and capability of our people, and investing in maximising the wellbeing of our whānau in a way that best meets their needs as Māori, is critical," Boulton said.
In that regard, she said the Budget's multi-year funding cycles for health services would be game-changing.
"It gives Māori health providers greater certainty and hopefully flexibility around working with whānau Māori," she said.
To make any real gains in Māori health outcomes, Boulton said, child poverty, low-paid casual employment and housing quality and quantity all had to be addressed.
All of those areas needed more funding, Boulton said.
The Māori Health Authority is launching alongside Health NZ on July 1, which would replace the district health boards.
"We know investment in Kaupapa Māori providers and Kaupapa Māori health works [to benefit Māori Health]," Pue said.
"You can see this with Waimarino and in Ruapehu with Ngāti Rangi and Te Puke Karanga, and indeed the wider Whanganui area with Te Oranganui and others."
He said he'd always believed removing the district health boards and giving more powers and responsibilities to localities and various Māori health providers was the way forward.
"It ensures that those most vulnerable are getting the support they need," he said.
Pue said investment in setting up the health system for success was necessary and would come with a cost.
But Māori were not getting the investment they were owed, he said.
"... and we'll always be told 'this is just the start and more is coming' whereas, actually, it's not.
"Don't get me wrong, I think what has been invested there is a really positive thing," Pue said.
"What I'm saying is if we're going to set up a model of partnership between the Māori Health Authority and Health New Zealand around better health outcomes for our communities, then the funding needs to be given in the same sort of auspice of the partnership."
He said the importance of the Māori Health Authority was to have an independent body that was responsible for Māori health.
"It's so that we can be the determinants of our destiny ourselves and we're not reliant on the Government, the Ministry of Health or essentially Pākeha organisations to tell us how much money we can have to address the challenges our people are facing.
"Māori Health Authority is about us doing it for ourselves - but we can't do that if we operate on peanuts."
