August 03, 2016
Way cleared for wahakura roll out
Health workers fighting the high rate of sudden unexplained death in infancy among Maori are welcoming a u-turn over the use of safe sleep devices.
In response to revelations the Health Ministry was secretly resisting use of plastic pepipods and woven wahakura, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has ordered the funding unlocked.
Lisa McNabb from national cot death prevention service Whakawhetu says that’s a tribute to the efforts of Professor Ed Mitchell and Dr David Tipene-Leach, who developed and advocated for the pods.
Shem says it should make a difference.
"The wahakura resonate better with whanau Maori and that 's what we are absolutely excited about, that this is going to make a big difference to our whanau in Counties Manukau, Northland and Tairawhiti, in particular those 3 DHB's because of the high rates of SUDI incidence there," she says.
Lisa McNabb says it’s important the Health Ministry helps to get wahakura and pepi pods, along with safe sleep messaging, out to whanau who need it rather than to the worried well.
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