The Need for Race Based Health-Focuses with Clair Mills from the University of Auckland: 2nd October, 2024

Around Mid September, the coalition government issued a directive to departments across the public sector to refocus the delivery of services so that they would be prioritised on the basis of need instead of race.

In line with this, the government scrapped a policy requiring government agencies to ensure at least 8% of their annual procurement contracts were awarded to Māori businesses, as well as a Hawke's Bay health initiative granting free GP visits to young Māori and Pasifika.

The decision has been criticised by experts and members of the public, who say that ethnicity focused initiatives are needed to address health and wealth gaps between certain ethnic groups and the wider population of Aotearoa. 

Oto spoke to Clair Mills, A senior lecturer at Te Kupenga Hauora Maori, the department of Maori health at the University of Auckland, and a medical specialist trained in public and population health, to discuss why Ethnicity focused-health initiatives are necessary.