Māori Health Response – An update

To read the Initial COVID-19 Response Action Plan released just under two weeks ago you can visit the MoH website here.

A lot of the mahi outlined in the plan has already begun. MoH has/is:

• currently supporting over 130 Māori health providers in their COVID-19 response.
• confirmed regional allocation of funding to provide Māori communities with locally specific support and outreach including support of kaumātua.
• worked with the DHBs to identify all Community Based Assessment Centre’s and testing centres across NZ.
  • currently identifying areas with high Māori population numbers to identify service gaps and ensure Māori have access to testing.
  • investigating the establishment of mobile testing centres.
• established a national and regional communications approach.
  • launched a social media campaign to reach whānau online. The first few videos have done extremely well with a combined reach of over one million. You can watch them on our Facebook here.
  • allocated regional funding to support our DHBs in their communications mahi.
• A proactive flu vaccination programme has seen a significant increase in the amount of kaumātua receiving their flu vaccines – as at April 17, 42.2 percent (22,919) of Māori aged 65 and over had received their flu vaccination.