The Deputy Director-General for Māori Health at the Ministry of Health says Māori health practices are no longer a future aspiration; they are the norm.
A new ACC initiative, Hāpai, focuses on helping clients recover with a strong emphasis on tikanga Māori, offering personalized recovery pathways and options like rongoā Māori.
John Whaanga says that for over a generation now, both Māori and non-Māori organizations have been drawing on Māori concepts of health and well-being.
“I don’t think this is a glimpse of where we should be in the future. For me, these are some of the things we should be doing now. And, you know, I want to acknowledge ACC and other organizations for seeing the benefit, in not only how Māori think about health, but also how we can weave a different approach which gives us a better result for not only Māori people but people generally,” says Whaanga.
