Ngākau Oho is a whānau-centred health programme developed to support injury recovery through rongoā Māori, the customary Māori ways of healing, is one of five groups to receive $100,000 funding from ACC’s Innovation Fund, which supports innovative healthcare service initiatives aimed at helping people recover from injury.
Ngākau Oho co-leader Dr Tia Reihana (Ngāti Hine) says the programme is to work towards eliminating inequality in health for Māori and whānau.
“Despite Te Tiriti o Waitangi directives to actively implement principles, Māori approaches to health continue to be positioned as alternatives. As Māori health professionals we understood that the continued alienation of our world views is demonstrated in low access for Māori,” Dr Reihana says.
The other co-leader and romiromi practitioner Dr Piripi Kirton-Morunga (Ngāpuhi) says the initiatives within the programme consist of mahi rākau (staff), mahi tinana (body movement), taonga pūoro and romiromi.
Reihana says the funding from ACC is crucial.
“The research tells us that Māori are likely to sustain serious life-changing areas and are less likely to access ACC services.
The work with ACC and Ngākau Oho is to provide “indigenous, localised and whānau-centred health services”, Reihana says.
The first wānanga for Ngākau Oho will happen next Saturday, September 3, and is about creating first connections to whānau and seeing what health looks like through a te ao Māori lens.
