A D D R E S S I N G   M Ā O R I   H E A L T H

Print this  Email this

He Korowai Oranga - Te Ara Tuatahi – Pathway Four

Within the context of the two broad directions and the three threads outlined, four pathways for action specify how the aim of improved whānau ora is to be achieved. These pathways are not mutually exclusive but are intended to work as an integrated whole. Whakatātaka sets out specific expectations of Crown agencies for each of the pathways over the next two to three years.

Pathway Four - Working across sectors.

This pathway directs the health and disability sectors to take a leadership role across the whole of government and its agencies to achieve the aim of whānau ora by addressing the broad determinants of health.

This pathway directs the health and disability sector to take a leadership role across the whole of government and its agencies to achieve the aim of whānau ora by addressing the broad determinants of health and organising services around the needs of whānau rather than sectors or providers.

Effective development and care of whānau should take economic and social situations, cultural frameworks, values and beliefs into account. It should acknowledge whānau rights to high-quality and safe health services.

Prerequisites to improved whānau ora include:
• affordable, appropriate, available and effective education, income and housing
• affordable, appropriate, available and effective health and disability services
• ability to participate in te ao Māori
• ability to participate in New Zealand society as a whole
• a healthy environment.

Barriers to addressing these prerequisites include:
• unsafe working conditions with little job control
• unemployment
• inadequate housing
• crime
• high disparities in income and wealth
• unfavourable economic conditions
• violence
• discrimination
• institutionalised racism.

The work of other sectors impacts on the health of whānau, and the Ministry of Health is developing practical advice to other sectors on how they can contribute to reducing inequalities.

This advice will include:
• working intersectorally
• collecting ethnicity data
• best practice in relation to population groups
• behavioural risk factors
• social and economic determinants of health (eg, housing and education).

Improvements in whānau ora may also lead to positive outcomes for whānau in other areas, such as education and employment.

Te Ara Tuatahi (whānau development) is about supporting whānau to identify their own strengths and fostering the conditions required to build on those strengths. Te Ara Tuawha (working across sectors) is about government sectors and DHBs working together to address the wider determinants of Māori health and to co-ordinate the delivery of services to whānau to complement whānau, hapū and Māori community development.


Top   Back