June 16, 2020
Maori health Authority needs bigger budget, more teeth
The South Island Whānau Ora commissioning agency says the Government needs to be more ambitious if it wants to alter the trajectory of Māori health inequities.
Te Pūtahitanga chief executive Helen Leahy has welcomed a recommendation in the Health and Disability Services Review for a Māori Health Authority, but says it must have the teeth to implement the bold transformation required.
Rather than the model proposed in the main report, she supported the alternate view put forward by some of the review members and its Māori expert advisory group.
This included an indigenous commissioning framework, such as that used for allocation of whanau ora resources.
She says the review acknowledges that a system which doesn’t reflect matauranga Māori or enhance rangatiratanga will not be effective and improve health and wellbeing for Māori.
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