Pasifika services demand change
Southern Pasifika health providers have demanded change after delivering services for decades they say with little or no help from the district health board.
And it appears change is now on the way to support Pasifika in the south.
Having no Pacific leadership at any level of the Southern District Health Board was highlighted during a presentation to the board on Monday by Pacific Trust Otago chairperson Faumuina Professor Fa’afetai Sopoaga.
This was despite a growing population of about 12,000 Southern Pacific Islanders who faced institutional and structural inequities in the sector, she said.
Pasifika were disproportionately affected by poor health out- comes, and their life expectancy was six years less than that of counterparts, she said.
Sopoaga said Pasifika people also had higher rates of morbidity and mortality if they contracted Covid-19.
While the Pacific community supported the health reforms and the establishment of the Māori Health Authority, Pasifika health needed to be separated from Mā ori health, she said.
The Pacific Island Advisory Charitable Trust’s Dr George Ngaei said the trust had had no DHB support for its Covid-19 vaccination drive and had to partner with the Ngā Kete Mā tauranga Pounamu Charitable Trust instead.
During the 2020 national lockdown, the trust supported 161 households, which translated to more than 1200 individuals, he their said, while more than 200 families were being supported in Southland during the current Covid-19 outbreak.
‘‘We had no resources; we had no help,’’ Ngaei said.
The collective of southern Pasifika health providers, which included the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group, asked for a position at the decision-making table in the new health system, a genuine partnership and desire to design equitable health services and a meeting with DHB management to develop a business case for these aspirations.
On Monday, Community and Public Health Advisory Committee chairperson Tuari Potiki apologised on behalf of the committee for the lack of engagement and support.
On Tuesday, the Pasifika collective’s requests were elevated to the DHB board, which voted to support them.
Speaking after the board meeting, Ngaei said the collective felt listened to. ‘‘It was heartening to hear that we had their support,’’ he said.
The group had asked to speak to the committee, through its strong relationship with the WellSouth Primary Health Network, Ngaei said. ‘‘We thought we had nothing to lose and everything to gain.’’
Southern DHB chief executive Chris Fleming said it was clear that Health New Zealand wanted Pasifika leadership at a national, regional and district level.
‘‘That’s a fundamental change from the design of DHBs,’’ he said.
Deputy board chairman Professor Peter Crampton said part of the DHB’s role in the transition was to guide the direction of the new health system, and this messaging should be weaved into its feedback to Health NZ.