April 19, 2023
Māori lesson for world in Indigenous Covid response
Epidemiologist Michael Baker says other countries with indigenous populations are looking at Māori responses to Covid.
Professor Baker is on study leave in Oslo, Norway, where he’s working with a group of researchers looking at the history of pandemics, including their impact on Indigenous communities.
He says the Sami people of northern Scandinavia face similar challenges to Maori of dealing with the legacy of land loss and introduced diseases.
“This is an area where New Zealand has a lot of good lessons it can teach the rest of the world about the real renaissance of Maori leadership in New Zealand. I think it is a lesson for the rest of the world in health advancement and trying o deal with these inequities,” he says.
Professor Baker says with a fourth wave of Covid hitting Aotearoa New Zealand it’s important people get their booster shots so the disease will be less severe if they get it.
He expects Covid 19 could kill up to 1000 people in New Zealand this year and put 10,000 in hospital, while influenza will kill about 500 people as it does every year.