A kaupapa Māori health initiative in Tairāwhiti is reshaping how oral health is understood and delivered, placing whakapapa, wellbeing, and whānau at the heart of care.
Dr Wiremu Reihana, leading the ONIHO35 kaupapa, says the focus goes far beyond teeth – restoring the mouth as a vital part of identity, nourishment, and voice. The approach centres te mana o te waha, recognising oral health as inseparable from overall hauora.
On the ground in Tairāwhiti, ONIHO35 operates with a whānau-first model, embedding care directly into communities rather than expecting people to navigate fragmented systems. Its day-to-day work spans prevention, treatment, education, and advocacy, all guided by mātauranga Māori and shaped by local hapū priorities.
This kaupapa Māori approach is defined by its emphasis on relationships, trust, and collective wellbeing. Services are designed alongside whānau, ensuring interventions are culturally grounded and responsive to real needs, rather than imposed through top-down systems.
The initiative is delivering a wide range of support, including oral health care, wider health assessments, and community-led education. Demand is growing rapidly, particularly in areas where access has historically been limited. Preventative care and early intervention are key focus areas, as many whānau continue to present with advanced and avoidable conditions.
From a frontline perspective, significant barriers remain. Cost, access, workforce shortages, and a lack of culturally appropriate services continue to limit equitable outcomes for Māori in the region. Many whānau face long wait times or go without care entirely, reinforcing cycles of poor health.
There are also systemic challenges, including fragmented services and funding models that do not reflect the realities of Māori communities. These gaps highlight a disconnect between policy settings and lived experience on the ground.
The work of ONIHO35 is contributing to a broader call for structural reform. There is growing recognition that improving outcomes will require more than incremental change — it will demand a system that redistributes power, resources, and decision-making to communities themselves.
Key priorities include expanding kaupapa Māori services, investing in workforce development within regions like Tairāwhiti, and embedding whānau and hapū leadership into the design and delivery of health systems.
As pressure builds across both general and oral health, initiatives like ONIHO35 are demonstrating what a community-led, culturally grounded model can achieve – and why many believe it offers a pathway toward more equitable health outcomes for Māori across Aotearoa.
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