Hearing the voices of whānau Māori on a cancer journey during the national COVID-19 response.
Āhuru mai i te rangi
Āhuru mai i te papa
Tū mai ngā turuturu tapu
Hei pou mō te aho
Hikitia ēnei kupu ki te whakaaro nui
Kia ora ai te whānau
Mauri ora.
There was a time in our recent history where whānau Māori voices in cancer care were structurally silenced - confined to kitchen tables, whānau gatherings and tangihanga speeches. A time when non-Māori defined our needs, aspirations, and cancer care requirements with little to no regard to the realities of whānau Māori.
In this puna kōrero, Hikitia has centered whānau Māori realities as the compass and wayfinder. Throughout the report Lou and Ali have enacted their name Hikitia - to amplify and lift up whānau voices. They did this throughout their approach and were adamant that this wouldn’t just be a collection of thoughts, there had to be action.
As you read the words of this report you will find consistent evidence of system failure. COVID illuminated every crevice and dark corner of our cancer control system. Lack of appointments, communication, culturally appropriate care and restrictions on whānau and hauora practices made whānau cancer journeys even more frightening.
What you will also find in this report is tū tāngata, tū maia and tū kaha. Stories of resilience, and of body, wairua and whānau sovereignty. You will be inspired by how whānau enacted their own tikanga and mana motuhake to sustain their oranga.
COVID pushed the already inequitable Aotearoa health system to its brink, and we know that this type of global phenomenon will not be the last. We must be better prepared, with targeted investment and an unwavering focus on equitable whānau centered responses. The urgency in this report is clear, we must invest in whānau and their wawata now. We must follow their lead.
Nā te whānau te kī.
Moahuia Goza
Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Unu.
Published rangahau
Our members’ rangahau published in a range of academic and industry publications.
16 Hūrae 2023
Journal of the Royal Society of NZ. Creating an environment to inform, build, and sustain a Māori health research workforce. Click here.
Ākuhata 2022
The Lancet. Mortality outcomes and inequities experienced by rural Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. Click here.
Ākuhata 2022
JCO Global Oncology. Where are we dying? Ethnic differences in place of death among New Zealanders dying of cancer. Click here.
Ākuhata 2022
BMJ Open. Equity of timely access to liver and stomach cancer surgery for Indigenous patients in New Zealand: A national cohort study.
Click here.
11 Ākuhata 2022
PLos ONE. Equity of travel required to access first definitive surgery for liver or stomach cancer in New Zealand. Click here.
10 Hune 2022
New Zealand Medical Journal. The impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Click here.
17 Hepetema 2021
NZ Medical Journal - Disparities in post-operative mortality between Māori and non-Indigenous ethnic groups in New Zealand. Click here.
9 Ākuhata 2021
Research Review Expert Forum - Reviews from Prof Sue Crengle, Dr Melissa Mcleod and Dr Nina Scott. Aotearoa Lung Cancer Screening Symposium. Click here.
9 Ākuhata, 2021
The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific. Acceptability of human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling among never- and under-screened Indigenous and other minority women: a randomised three-arm community trial in Aotearoa New Zealand. Click here.
21 Māehe, 2021
NZ Medical Journal - Recommendations for implementing HPV Self-testing in Aotearoa. Click here.
21 Māehe, 2021
NZ Medical Journal - Bowel cancer screening age - what is all the fuss about? Click here.
11 Māehe, 2021
The Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific. Maintaining cancer services during the COVID 19 pandemic: the Aotearoa New Zealand experience. Click here.
25 Pēpuere, 2021
The Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer diagnosis and service access in New Zealand–a country pursuing COVID-19 elimination. Click here.
19 Pēpuere, 2021
NZ Medical Journal. Telehealth as a tool for equity, pros, cons and recommendations. Click here.
Hanuere, 2021
Smear your mea evaluation report. Click here.
Tīhema, 2020
Journal of Cancer Policy. A critical te Tiriti analysis of the New Zealand cancer action plan 2019–2029. Click here.
4 Mahuru, 2020
NZ Medical Journal. The most commonly diagnosed and most common causes of cancer death for Māori New Zealanders. Click here.
14 Ākuhata, 2020
BMJ Open. Impact of low-dose CT screening for lung cancer on ethnic health inequities in New Zealand: a cost effectiveness analysis. Click here.
5 Ākuhata, 2020
BMJ Open. Postoperative mortality in New Zealand following general anaesthetic: demographic patterns and temporal trends. Click here.
31 Hune, 2020
JCO Global Oncology. Disparities in cancer specific survival between Māori and non-Māori New Zealanders, 2007-2016. Click here.
31 Hānuere, 2020
Journal of cancer policy. Addressing cancer inequities for indigenous populations. The New Zealand story. Click here.
17 Hānuere, 2020
NZ Medical Journal. Stage at diagnosis for Māori cancer patients, disparities, similarities and data limitations. Click here.
13 Hānuere, 2020
JCO Global Oncology. Indigenous Cancer Research: Reflections on Roles and Responsibilities. Click here.
29 Noema, 2019
NZ Medical Journal. Viewpoint. Equity by 2030. Achieving equity in survival for Māori cancer patients. Click here.
19 Noema, 2019
Journal of cancer policy. A critical Tiriti Analysis of the New Zealand Cancer Control Strategy. Click here.
Hune, 2019
The Lancet Oncology. Mapping a route to Indigenous engagement in cancer genomic research. Click here.
Hune, 2018
The Lancet Oncology. Improving the health of indigenous people globally. Click here.
23 Pēpuere, 2018
NZ Medical Journal. Letter. New Zealand's revised Ethnicity Data Protocols must not become a shelved document: a challenge from Hei Āhuru Mōwai. Click here.
Oketopa, 2016
Te Mata Hautū Taketake – Māori & Indigenous Governance Centre University of Waikato. Te Mata Ira, guidelines for Genomic Research with Māori. Click here.