Ros Pochin, Chair of the Aotearoa New Zealand National Committee, and John Mutu-Grigg, Chair of Te Chair, Te Rōpū Hāuora Māori - Māori Health Advisory Group, wrote jointly to Hon. Dr. Shane Reti, Minister of Health. Our proactive submission was in response to a Cabinet directive that implied targeted services based on ethnicity were not needs-based and emphasised the need for a robust analytical case based on empirical evidence, including disparities in healthcare outcomes.
RACS urged the Minister to acknowledge there is already substantial evidence supporting ethnicity as a determinant of health for Māori and other population groups, leading to inequity of access, service delivery and outcomes in healthcare. Ethnic health inequities cause more sickness, higher healthcare costs, and premature deaths, driving both direct and opportunity costs to taxpayers that should be considered in prioritisation decisions.
The status quo is not a neutral starting point for resource allocation and fails to address discrimination that already exists in our health system which has a bias toward the dominant ethnicity in Aotearoa.
Ethnic health inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand are unjust and avoidable and it is our job as health professionals to use all tools at our disposal to intervene.
Read submission (PDF 243.06KB).