The long road to good care

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-11-11 00:01

New Zealand

Photo by Zane Lee on Unsplash

New Zealanders often need to travel to access the medical care that they need - and this travel issue affects Māori to a much greater extent than non-Māori, according to an editorial in the New Zealand Medical Journal. Around 25% of Māori live in rural areas compared to 20% of NZ Europeans, and 32% of people living in the most remote parts of Aotearoa are Māori. While it would be difficult to decentralise treatments like complex surgery, some in-person clinics could be held closer to where Māori whānau live. The author suggests that our collective attitude has been "the care is here, and it's up to you to get to it", and we need to shift to address inequities in the travel burden.

Media release

From: Pasifika Medical Association Group

It is often more difficult for Māori to access good healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Sometimes, this is because more Māori live in rural areas than non-Māori, and so have to travel
further to access care than non-Māori. This is compounded by the fact that Māori are much more
likely to live in deprivation, and so are less likely to be able to pay the up-front costs associated
with travelling to access care. This editorial highlights the findings of recent research in the
context of inequities in travel to access care for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand, and offers some
recommendations for a pathway forward.

Journal/
conference: New Zealand Medical Journal

Organisation/s: University of Otago

Funder: na

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