Healthy Communities

Te Riu o Hokianga

This kaupapa Māori and participatory action research project involves Hauora Hokianga, Tipa and Associates and the University of Auckland working in partnership with Hokianga hapū and iwi to improve on-site wastewater disposal systems. In particular, this research is examining the regulatory, institutional, cultural and community interactions that facilitate or constrain a Māori community development approach to environmental health issues.
 
For more information, please click on link above or contact Jeff Foote or Maria Hepi

Rongoā Māori/Traditional Healing Project (July 2006 – present)

This Ministry of Health-funded scoping project is currently underway to engage healers and stakeholders in discussion of the sustainability of rongoā Māori, and the design of an appropriate research or evaluation strategy. This has involved looking at strategic institutional relationships, quality assurance and training needs.

For more information, please contact Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll

Small Community Drinking-Water Supplies

By providing safe drinking water people are protected from waterborne illness. Water suppliers are responsible for ensuring that the drinking-water they provide is safe for consumption, regardless of the number of people served and the type of population. Members of IRfS have been involved in a variety of Ministry of Health projects relating to small drinking-water supplies, including:

• A major role in the development of the small community water supplies chapter of the 2005 Drinking-Water Standards for New Zealand (DWSNZ:2005). A key aspect of this work involved the development of a Public Health Risk Management Plan (PHRMP) template for small water supplies (communities with fewer than 500 people).

• Providing policy support to the Ministry of Health’s Drinking Water Assistance Programme (DWAP); the government’s $136.9 million fund to help improve drinking-water systems in New Zealand. The fund includes $117.8 million over ten years for a Capital Assistance Programme (CAP) and $15.6 million over seven years for a Technical Assistance Programme (TAP). ESR is providing support to the Ministry of Health in both the CAP and TAP programmes.

This includes a national eligibility criteria submission analysis for CAP, and providing group and individual non-technical support and mentoring for TAP facilitators (drinking-water assessors with the role of helping suppliers involved in the TAP, forming TAP groups, providing training on PHRMPs, arranging for knowledgeable people to help the groups, and helping suppliers with applications to CAP). Mentoring and support provided by ESR includes goal and priority setting and approaches for working with community groups.
 
ESR is also involved in an evaluation of DWAP based on systemic and participatory evaluation. Our approach aims to identify the key factors that will provide assurance of the success of DWAP over its 10-year life, and to develop ways of monitoring these factors over time to lead to continuous improvement of the programme.

For more information, please contact Jan Gregor

Supporting Environmental Health in the Pacific

ESR supports several environmental health initiatives in the Pacific region, with the aim of assisting Pacific communities to have safer drinking water, improve environmental management and sustainability, and become better informed about public health and disease issues. Current initiatives include:

• Supporting Drinking-water Quality Initiatives

Supporting the development and implementation of regional and country action plans in sustainable water management and drinking-water quality risk management by providing technical and non-technical expertise and advice to organisations who have the responsibility for implementing these programmes throughout the Pacific, including New Caledonia, Tonga, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Palau.

For further information please contact Jan Gregor

• Supporting Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and safe drinking water provision

ESR, in collaboration with NIWA and the University of the South Pacific, is involved in an NZODA-funded project to develop, test and demonstrate sustainable community wastewater treatment solutions for coastal Fijian villages, as well as provide advice and support for safe drinking water provision.  This work aims to improve and protect environmental and human health, and thus contributes to the sustainability of Fiji’s tourism industry. The team uses dialogue, capacity building and partnership-based processes to engage the village community with which it is working, local government agencies, NGOs, schools and the university.

For further information please contact Ann Winstanley

Previous Research Projects: