A paediatrician and Pasifika health researcher says structures like the now shuttered Māori Health Authority are necessary to tackle inequitable outcomes in the health system.
Simone Watkins, who has been looking at the impact of racism in New Zealand health system, says there are decades of data showing the way different groups access and receive care is not the same.
She says the latest report of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which found virtually unchanged perinatal death rates over a decade and a half due to persistent inequities, shows why change is needed.
“One way is to have a different lens over the way things are governed and managed and that was where Te Aka Whai Ora was a really important advance to try to reduce the impact of those discrimination and racist policies, practises and other things that are embedded in the way we do things here,” Dr Watkins says.
