Welcome to Te Kete Hauora: the Māori Health Directorate

M Ā O R I H E A L T H D I R E C T O R A T E

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Welcome to Te Kete Hauora: the Māori Health Directorate

The name, Te Kete Hauora, means the basket of health Te Kete Hauora is an oblique reference to ancient tauparapara (legend) which related the exploits of Tane-nui-a-rangi in his pursuit of knowledge. Tane climbed to the heavens and obtained the three kete of knowledge. Te Kete Hauora was seen as an appropriate name for the Māori Health Group, noting that there were possibly four baskets, with the fourth basket being te kete hauora (basket of health). This name was endorsed at a hui of kaumatua and kuia at Pipitea Marae.

Our role is to provide policy advice on the overall strategy for achieving the government's objective for Māori health, which is to reduce inequalities in health status for Māori and improve Māori health and disability status. We will work with other directorates, sections and teams within the Ministry to enable them to increase their understanding and responsiveness to the needs and aspirations of Māori and to equip them in their role to improve Māori health. Our role is also to develop relationships with the key organisations and agencies that contribute to a health and disability sector with a view to improving Māori health and disability status, and facilitating leadership within the Māori health sector.

Our focus is to make a difference for Māori health. We aim to ensure that our Ministers, Government and other Ministry directorates have confidence in the accuracy of our information and in the quality of our policy advice. We want Māori community and health organisations, to feel confident that our advice works for Māori.

We aim to improve quality by being:

knowledge based,
people centered, and
systems minded.

The vision of Te Kete Hauora is for a health and disability sector that works for Māori.

For general enquiries please contact the Māori Health Directorate at maorihealthinfo@maorihealth.govt.nz

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