He Korowai Oranga: Impact on Maori Health and Suicide Rate

The report evaluates the impact of He Korowai Oranga on improving health and well-being and reducing suicide rate in Maori population in New Zealand. It analyzes the alignment of the strategy with the New Zealand Health Strategy and discusses the national and regional demographics of the target group. The critical analysis of the strategy highlights its effectiveness in addressing all factors influencing quality of lives of Maori group.

Running head: HEALTH 2
Health 2
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Introduction:
The New Zealand Health Strategy has focused on improving health and well-being of the
New Zealand population. This can be achieved by improving access to health and service for
ethnic groups too. However, one of the major challenges in achieving this goal is the high suicide
rate in Maori population. Maoris are one of the most vulnerable indigenous groups in New
Zealand and one of the serious health and social issues is the high suicide rate in this group. This
is a sign of poor mental and social well-being of the population. Deprivation, stressful life
experience, poor socioeconomic status and issues related to ethnic identity might be the cause of
suicide in Maoris (Suicide Facts | Waka Hourua, 2017). This reports seeks to evaluate the impact
of He Korowai Oranga on improving health and well-being and reducing suicide rate in the
group
Aim, target group and rational for chosen strategy:
This assignment mainly focuses on the population group of Maoris to identify the impact
of certain health guidelines or strategies on their health outcome. The main rational for selecting
Maori group for analysis is that they are the most vulnerable group having higher level of unmet
need for health care compared to other groups in New Zealand (The Health of Māori Adults and
Children, 2017). Chronic disease like stroke, diabetes, arthritis and ischemic heart disease is
more common in Maori people than non-Maori population. Apart from chronic health issues,
adverse social experience, poor socioeconomic status, high cost of health services and disparities
in access to care are some of the reasons for suicide ideation and high suicide rate in this group.
Hence, the role of health care system, extended family and health care providers are found
crucial in promoting health and well-being in the group (Biddle, 2017).

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The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of He Korowai Oranga, the New
Zealand’s Maori Health strategy to determine its effectiveness in improving health outcome of
Maori group. He Korowai Oranga strategy has been specifically chosen for this paper because it
has become important to protect Maori culture and this strategy provides useful framework to the
government to improve health and well-being of Maoris (He Korowai Oranga, 2017). Hence, it
would be necessary to evaluate how interactive pyramid in the He Korowai Oranga has improves
overall health outcome of Maoris.
Analysis of alignment to New Zealand Health Strategy:
The Maori health strategy was developed in 2002 and it has been recently revised in
2014. It is built on the foundation of Whānau Ora, an approach to empower the communities and
extended families to cooperate with each other to make a Maori community. Hapy, iwi, health
care providers and hospital facilities, well-being expert and group specialists will be the
important part of this community. There are certain specific aims of the Maori health strategy
which are as follows:
 Promote the prosperity of nation by the development of whanua, hapu, iwi and Maori
community
 Focus on improving access to health and disability services and improving participation
of Maori in this sector
 Working to develop effective health and disability services and making it a priority to
address health inequalities and disparities affecting Maori population
 Working across all sectors to remove barriers to health and social service at all levels
(Pathways for action, 2017).

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One of the key highlights of the He Korowai Oranga Maori health strategy is that it seeks to
improve Maori health by addressing the New Zealand Health Strategy. The New Zealand Health
Strategy provides the future direction to improve health system by the five strategic theme of
smart system, people powered, closer to home, one team, value and high performance (New
Zealand Health Strategy Future direction, 2017). The usefulness of He Korowai Oranga is that its
aims and actions are aligned to the New Zealand Health strategy as the focus on developing
whanau, hapu and iwi ensures that smart health care system powered by skillful people can be
build and the aim of improving health of New Zealand people can be achieved. Secondly, the
Maori Health strategy has prioritized removing barriers and disparities in health and social
services and this is turn will help to fulfill action plans mentioned in the roadmap of the New
Zealand Health Strategy (New Zealand Health Strategy, 2016).
Discussion of national and regional demographics of target group:
As suicide is one of the specific issues that is likely to act as barrier in fulfilling the goal
of the Maori Health Strategy and the New Zealand Health Strategy, there is a need to evaluate
regional and national statistics related to suicides in the Maori population. This is essential as it
will help to understand the severity of the problem and the extent to which the Government
needs to work to address deprivation and health problems in the target group. The Maori
population is mainly concentrated in Roturua district of New Zealand. According to 2013
statistics, around 65, 280 people live in Rotorua district and among them 22, 413 comprises the
Maori people. This means that about 3.7% of Maori population live in Rotorua district
(QuickStats about a place: Rotorua district (2017). In the year 2017, the population in the
Roturua district crossed 70, 000 meaning an increase in 1.8% compared to the year 2015(Harris,

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2017). According to the 2013 national demographics of New Zealand, total population is 4.7
million and among them, about 14.9% consist of Maori population.
The review of the demographics of New Zealand has also revealed about the alarming
suicide statistics in Maori population. In 2013, suicide accounted for 1.7 of all deaths in New
Zealand. One important finding is that the highest suicide rate is found in males youths
particularly Maori living in the most deprived areas. In 2013, 365 males and 143 males
committed suicide. A consistent trend was the high difference in suicide rate between the Maori
and non-Maori youth suggesting urgent action to reduce the impact on lives of Maori youths.
The Maori suicide rate was also twice the number compared to other ethnic groups. High suicide
rate was also found in rural areas compared to urban areas as rural areas showed 12.5 suicide rate
per 100, 000 population compared to 10.8 per 1, 00, 000 urban population (Suicide Facts: Deaths
and intentional self-harm hospitalisations 2013, 2017).
Critical analysis of the strategy:
Considering the high youth suicide rate particularly in Maori population, it can be said
that this has been seen mainly due to cultural identity and impact of colonisation issues in the
Maori group. In addition, people belonging to deprived areas have been found to have high
suicide rate (Marriott & Sim 2015). The effectiveness of the Maori Health strategy for improving
the health of the Maori people is understood from its overall aim. It is a living strategy aiming to
improve overall health of Maoris. This means that the He Korowai Oranga would help address
all areas of Maori’s life which contributes to mental and physical health issues for them (The
Guide to He Korowai Oranga – Māori Health Strategy, 2017).

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Survey has shown that Maori youths develop suicide ideation due to mental stress and
this mainly occurs because of negative experiences like racial discrimination and area
deprivation in Maori people. Ethnic density has been also found to effect Maori people. Report
has shown that increase in Maori ethnic density has been associated with poor health and
common mental disorders. Hence, adjusting for area deprivation, health and socioeconomic
inequities and high poverty in the group might promote well-being and eliminate experience of
racism in the target group (Bécares, Cormack & Harris 2013). The utility of the Maori Health
strategy is that it is working to address all these problems in Maori. The strategy symbolizes
protective cloak by nurturing the Maori people physically as well as spiritually. The Government
is trying to develop skills whanau, hapu and iwi, health professionals and community workers.
This will play a role in identifying social and health inequities and resolving those gap in Maori’s
life. This will play a crucial in reducing physical and mental stress in them and reducing suicide
rates.
The review of suicide statistics in New Zealand has showed that suicide rate is high
mainly in youths. This is mainly because of racial and gender disparities. This has been proved in
research that youths coming from ethnic background are deprived of basic necessities of life and
they experience discrimination in seeking employment opportunities too. Many people live in
deprived areas having poor access to health services. These people tend to have high rate of
chronic disease. The disease burden and inability to get appropriate treatment also results in
suicide ideation in them (Chan et al., 2017). Hence, the He Korowai Oranga has been found
beneficial in addressing all kinds of disadvantages in Maori people’s live. Its effectiveness is
understood from the following points:

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 It is a web-strategy thus provides all resources and guidance to hapu, iwi, whanua and
community groups to secure health of Maori.
 The Government and health and disability sector is working together to strong platform
to Maori. This is evident from the focus on the element of healthy individuals, healthy
families and healthy environments. Hence, it is a holistic strategy looking to address all
factors influencing quality of lives of Maori group.
 The pathway for actions is a strategic plan that is focusing on participation of Maori in
decision making and service delivery. This will provide equal opportunities to people in
all aspects of life. Working across all sector will also ensure that all physical, cultural,
geographical and other barriers affecting health and well-being of Maori is addressed
(The Guide to He Korowai Oranga – Māori Health Strategy, 2017).
Conclusion:
The report gave critical insight into the issue of high suicide rate in Maori population and
the effectiveness of He Korowai Oranga on providing a supportive and protective framework to
Maoris. The element of pathways for action, key threads and directions is a holistic strategy that
will provide all support and guidance to plan resource, monitor health, promote Maori
participation and develop the community.

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Reference
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