“We have a right to the best healthcare and the best health outcomes that are available. And we have a right to be part of creating the solutions when those rights aren’t being met. So advocacy needs to be part of an excellent health system.” — Professor Matire Harwood.
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“Living while dying, grieving while anticipating, good days and appalling days, happiness and despair, all co-exist quite comfortably within te ao Māori.” — Jacquie Kidd, on how whakapapa has guided her since she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
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“We were told that a large number of our classmates had complained about being forced to sleep communally and subjected to learning things that they considered irrelevant to their nursing programme.” — Jacquie Kidd, on the tentative first steps to introduce Māori concepts into nursing.
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“Those who need it most can’t afford it, don’t receive it, and are being sidelined. Meanwhile, usage has tripled in just four months, and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is increasing.” — Fred Christensen on the arrival of Wegovy in New Zealand.
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“You can’t separate the conditions in which people live from their health. They’re completely interwoven, and I absolutely feel a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to addressing those wider determinants.” — Dr Corina Grey, Director of Public Health.
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“We’re going to be left with people who go: ‘You know what, my uncle or my brother or my cousin died from bowel cancer. And it should have been picked up in a screening programme.’ Make no mistake, these deaths are unnecessary.” — Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen.
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“I couldn’t, in all honesty, remain in my roles. The government didn’t seem interested in listening to genuine public health advice.” — Sir Collin Tukuitonga.
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“The government’s directive is not just an attack on Māori, but an attack on science and good medical practice.” — Doctors from the universities of Auckland and Otago.
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“I have the most supportive, loving, wonderful dad ever. He has allowed me to share some of the darkest, most difficult times of his life.” — Dr Jason Gurney on rheumatic fever and his book ‘The Twisted Chain’.
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“When I was in high school, I was told by a careers advisor that Māori didn’t do medicine, and I stupidly took that on board. I defaulted to what people expected of me, which was to not do well.” — Dr Maxine Ronald, breast cancer surgeon.
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“The central issue the story raises is one of media responsibility. Why was there no rush to demand that the people who kicked it off justify their angle, their selection of voices, and their framing?” — Connie Buchanan.
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“What’s improved is that we’ve got these pockets of Māori excellence . . . But our general health sector is just as racist as it’s ever been, and our outcomes are just as poor as they’ve ever been.” — Dr Jacquie Kidd.
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“Māori and Pacific babies are more likely than Pākehā babies to receive palliative care rather than active treatment.” — Dr Simone Watkins.
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“At medical school . . . I was presented with a narrative that implied that Māori were at fault for their own ill health.” — Dr Vanessa Selak.
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“Every time decision-makers are given the opportunity to take action that is pro-equity, they find reasons not to.” — Dr Rhys Jones.
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“As a GP in Māngere, I soon realised that medicine wasn’t the solution I was looking for. These people were coming in with problems that medicine, and my textbooks, couldn’t solve.” — Dr Canaan Aumua.
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“Despite well-intentioned health practitioners, the health system provides lower quality care for Māori.” — Dr Papaarangi Reid.
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“Let Aotearoa show the world how Indigenous rights and health equity can be meaningfully upheld and respected as we face this crisis together.” — Dr Elana Curtis.
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“My culture is not the cause of, and therefore not the solution to, contemporary Māori health inequities.” — Dr Elana Curtis
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