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Download AudioA Māori health advocate says building trust in the health system is critical to increasing Maori vaccination rates.
Boyd Broughton is part of the Maori monitoring and equity group working with the Health Ministry’s National Screening Unit,
He says the pandemic has changed the way health is delivered to Maori, and that should be built on to improve things like child vaccination rates.
“Covid has forced us to change the game, to take our health to our people who live more than an hour away from their nearest hospital, who live more than an hour away from their nearest GP, who have never gone in to get a flu vaccine. We have now mobilised so many Maori partners around the country, they have mobile vaccinations, they have mobile health services that can go out there with people who look like our people, people who speak like our people, and people who are our people,” Mr Broughton says.
Key to improving Maori vaccination rates is recognising the high rates of intergenerational living among whanau Maori.
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