: A nurse prepares the Covid-19 vaccine for the Te Whanau O Waipareira vax team who are vaccinating locals in Papakura as part of Whanau Ora campaign on November 30, 2021 in Auckland, Photo: 2021 Getty Images
Research on the impacts of Covid-19 clearly has found the high death rates among Pacific people in Aotearoa and the need to provide better support in the future.
A report has just been publicly released, titled Pacific contribution to the New Zealand COVID-19 response - Strengths, Weaknesses and Missed Opportunities.
The research lead, Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga, co-director of Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa - the Centre for Pacific and Global Health at the University of Auckland, said the response failed to target Pasifika needs adequately.
He told RNZ Pacific that having this formal study shows the disproportionate effect of the pandemic.
(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Colin Tukuitonga: We knew at the time, and we have had prior experiences where the disparities exist, where Māori and Pacific people tend to be disproportionately affected. We knew then, the benefit of this is that we have systematically looked at data and evidence and interviewed people and been able to document the fact that Pacific communities were disproportionately affected; more deaths, more hospital admissions, more cases, on a population basis, and the fact that we did not provide a good enough response to meet their needs.
I am on the record saying there is no question that New Zealand national response was up there with the best in the world overall. But I think we relied too much on conventional delivery and 'one size should fit everyone', and missed out on being able to better meet the needs of Māori communities and Pacific people. So, it is not new that in the sense that we were aware, but what this does is a formal, systematic reviewed study that confirmed those findings.
Don Wiseman: Another such event is inevitable. What needs to change?
CT: That's an excellent point. One would hope that we have learned from this. A key thing would be to engage Pacific leaders and Māori. I would say the same with Pacific providers, inform them and engage them and involve them earlier on in the piece. I think the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccination was a good example where we relied on how we have always delivered the vaccines. And clearly it did not work, because the uptake by Pacific people was very slow and very sluggish. Then the Pacific communities, the churches, Pacific providers, put on and ran their own vaccination drives, using drive in through churches, longer hours, more options. In the end, the Pacific community uptake of Covid-19 dose one and two was the best in the country. So, we have learned some things.
One is that you cannot expect to have the same delivery for everyone, and in the case of modern Pacific communities, you need to engage the leaders, the providers better target the responses we have.
Auckland University associate professor of public health Dr Collin Tukuitonga says the fact people aren’t recording their RAT results highlights the shortcomings of the Ministry of Health’s daily case numbers. Photo: RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF
I also think that we should seriously address the underlying conditions. By that, I mean overcrowded housing, low income, poor access to services, which are chronic, and we know about those now, because that had a big bearing on why there was a disproportionate number of cases in these communities. In other words, there's plenty of evidence, plenty of information that we should learn from in order to prepare for the next pandemic.
I suppose, my fear is that even though we are aware of these things, we tend somehow to be unable or unwilling to implement those. I mean, we knew in 1918 for example, that the death rate in Māori people were six times those of pakeha people. In other words, we knew the disproportionate impact that these outbreaks tend to have on Māori communities, specific communities, but for some reason we seem unable or unwilling to use the knowledge to try to make things better for everyone.
DW: How do you think a change is going to be embraced, given the general tone over matters such as these in the New Zealand political community?
CT: Well, one would hope that we have a political leadership. I thought our national response in the COVID 19 outbreak was successful because of the political leadership provided by Jacinda Ardern and the government at the time, supported by some of our scientists that produce the data and the evidence. I fear that if we have the current lot in charge when an outbreak happens, that we could, in fact, be worse off. So the political environment is really important in terms of whether or not we're able to address these outbreaks effectively or not. And I know that equity is a dirty word with the current government, so somehow we've got to be creative and try to do the best we can. I guess I just stress the point of how important it is that we have a helpful, supportive political environment.
