March 19, 2024
Inequities heighten pandemic risk
New research comparing Covid and the 1918 influenza pandemic has highlighted continuing Māori health inequity.
Co-author Dr Matire Harwood from the University of Auckland Medical School says in 1918 Maori were just 4 percent of the population but accounted for a quarter of the deaths – at least 2,160 out of 8,600.
She says while the role of Māori providers may have contributed to comparatively fewer deaths with Covid, inequities are still apparent because of socio-economic deteminants affecting Māori.
“People living in over-crowded homes. People working in situations that were not as safe for them. People struggling to get kai, to people losing their jobs, and things like that,” Dr Harwood says.
She says Maori-led healthcare initiatives are crucial to reducing inequities – and a wider research project will now look at the implications of poorer Maori access to timely healthcare.