The ongoing racial inequities uncovered in decades of health research
Inequality has worsened for Maori. A Victoria University study has revealed inequality has worsened over the past 10 years for Māori and Pacific people in NZ.
A Victoria University study has revealed inequality has worsened over the past 10 years for Māori and Pacific people in NZ. Researcher Dr Lisa Marriott says the results are surprising as there have been recent measures put in place to combat many of these inequalities.
Non-Māori want to live longer and have better quality lives. Māori just want equity in healthcare. We may not have the resources to do both. Carmen Parahi reports on the decades of research by Associate Professor Suzanne Pitama.
A Māori man sits in a GP's office, asking for help. He's having heart trouble, which the doctor recognises as possible cardiovascular disease. The doctor gives him lifestyle advice: get some more exercise, improve your diet and quit smoking. When that's sorted, we can help you with some medication, he's told.
A Pākehā man turns up the next day with the same symptoms. The doctor gives the same advice: stop eating so much rubbish and kick the nicotine habit. But the patient gets the medication up front.
This scenario describes some of the findings from a decade of research into heart disease carried out by the Māori/Indigenous Health Institute at Otago University.
Associate Professor Suzanne Pitama is a founding director of the institute. She's been at the forefront of Māori health research development for the past 20 years.
"The medication and treatments exist now to really reduce cardiovascular disease. But Māori are being under diagnosed and under treated," Pitama says.
"The problem was Māori weren't getting screened. If they were being screened, they were less likely to get medication and more likely to get lifestyle advice. They got what we wouldn't consider best practice first.
"So Māori had to be really well-behaved, stop smoking and lose weight before they were allowed the medication. Whereas Pākehā were more likely to get the medication and then get the lifestyle advice.
"Then what we found, if a Māori patient and non-Māori patient presented with the same symptoms, they both get screened and treated according to the guidelines, they both actually have the same outcomes."