April 24, 2017
Whare Tapawha model for all New Zealanders
The Education Ministry's first advisor on physical education and nutrition says frameworks developed to address Maori views on health are applicable to the whole population.
Grant Schofield is a professor in public health at Auckland University of Technology and director of its Centre for Human Potential.
He says the role is about more than childhood obesity, but there are some massive choices that need to be made, particularly around sugar.
Professor Schofield says he's impressed by the work done around Professor Sir Mason Durie's whare tapawha model which seeks to focus not just physical health but mental, spiritual and cultural health aspects as well.
"Mason Durie and his work has been outstanding and sometimes it gets pushed off to be just a Maori thing and that's ridiculous because that view of health is something that would be good for everyone in this country. If we could adopt that model for all New Zealanders, bring it on," he says.
Professor Schofield says indications the generation of kids coming through will be the first to live less longer and be sicker than their parents is a cause for great concern.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH GRANT SCHOFIELD
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