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A new centre of research excellence for heart health equity will try to close a seven-year gap in life expectancy for Māori and Pacific people.
Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand, hosted by the University of Auckland, has received $40.5 million in funding for its first eight years – the largest tranche of money ever allocated to heart research in this country.
It will bring together researchers, health care practitioners and community groups.
Professor Julian Paton of the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, who will lead the centre alongside Dr Anna Rolleston of Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Pukenga, says researchers and practitioners will develop new ways of working, guided by Māori and Pacific leadership committees.
The centre will look for new early-diagnostics, treatments and strategies to improve equity.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability in Aotearoa, and it occurs not only at greater rates for Māori and Pacific people but earlier.
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