November 12, 2021
Iwi barrier to Covid data sharing
The director general of health says the Health Ministry is ready to share health data for Tāmaki Makaurau and Kirikiriroa with the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency – but it doesn’t want to upset iwi in other parts of the country.
The agency is heading back to court to try and get data for all the North Island that it can share with whānau ora providers to help them target their vaccination efforts.
Ashley Bloomfield says the ministry shares all sorts of data with commissioning agencies and providers, but it also needs to follow tikanga and Treaty of Waitangi obligations – which means consulting iwi.
While some were happy for the data to be released, while others objected.
“They’re concerned their iwi members may not have anticipated those data would be provided en bloc to the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency. Some were concerned if those data were provided without any prior consultation or process with their members, then that could compromise their relationship with the crown actually,” Dr Bloomfield says.