Māori health providers in South Auckland say their work with whānau stretches far beyond the clinic walls.
In Māngere, Hinekura Ngataki, a lead clinician for Ngaa Pou Hauora oo Taamaki Makaurau, is bringing rangatahi together through equine therapy, helping secondary school students facing mental health challenges reconnect and build confidence.
The initiative is part of wider community outreach led by Māori health providers, who say relationships with whānau are central to improving wellbeing.
But Ngataki says proposed changes to the Pae Ora health legislation risk weakening the role Māori organisations play in shaping the health system.
“Without iwi Māori partnership boards and all these learnings, what do we do with that if we’re not here to inform the system and make the changes necessary for the betterment of our people,” she says.
Ngataki points to the COVID response as an example of how Māori providers and iwi mobilised quickly to support communities.
“We moved into mobilising and responding alongside our hauora Māori providers and our iwi who were the core components in response to the Covid,” she says.
During the pandemic, Māori providers delivered testing, vaccination and welfare support to whānau across the country.
Findings from the COVID Inquiry were recently debated in Parliament as the Pae Ora Amendment Bill passed its second reading.
Tuwharetoa Independent Māori Partnership Board member Louisa Wall says the changes risk undoing progress made in recognising iwi leadership in health.
“When this bill was created it was out of a recognition that the system and the government were not meeting their active protection obligations and enabling equitable health outcomes for Māori.”
Health leaders say the success of iwi led COVID responses shows why community providers remain essential to improving Māori health outcomes.