Millions for Pasifika pandemic fight

A total of $26 million will go to Pasifika health providers working to help their community struggling during the current Covid outbreak.

Associate Minister of Health Aupito William Sio yesterday announced the money would go toward boosting support for Pacific families — many of whom are linked to the current Covid cluster.

Sio, also the Minister for Pacific Peoples, said the funding was a muchneeded investment into the Covid response for the Pasifika community.

“This will ensure that our Pacific health and disability sector have the resources they need to continue delivering critical services and to upscale further support for our aiga [families] and communities.

“Our Pacific providers have proven time and time again that they are an essential part of the Government’s response to this outbreak for our Pacific communities.”

The money will help sustain the response to the outbreak and support Pasifika health and disability services.

It will also be used to scale up mobile outreach and Pacific community vaccination services and improving engagement and communications to reach specific ethnic groups in the Pasifika community.

Pacific health providers and community leaders alike have banded together to help the Pasifika community in Auckland and Wellington, after health authorities confirmed that most people who have tested positive in the latest outbreak are of Pacific descent.

Of the seven sub-clusters, the largest is the Ma¯ngere Assembly of God church cluster, which had 332 positive cases as of yesterday.

Church spokesman Jerome Mika warned there could be some “not so good” news in the coming days.

“The next week is going to be pretty tough for the church,” he said.

“We’ve got people in ICU and in hospital and the best-case scenario is we see them all recover and get well, so we’d appreciate people of faith to be praying for them.”

Mika has acknowledged the work being provided to families by Pacific healthcare providers — including South Auckland-based South Seas Health and The Cause Collective — has helped greatly; particularly as staff are able to communicate with many of their elderly members in Samoan. Other health providers have also been called in to help, including The Fono.

Sio pointed to the outbreak last year, in August, when those providers turned out significantly for Pacific families affected.

“There is also a level of trust and familiarity associated with those groups,” the Associate Health minister said yesterday.

“These providers are known and trusted by the communities they live and work in,” Sio said.

“They have the language skills and the cultural intelligence required for the most effective response.

“They are the heroes on the frontline every day out there, keeping our families and communities safe.

“The solutions for our challenges lie within communities.”