Te Mate Huka - Diabetes study

12 November 2017

Te Mate Huka - Diabetes study
Te Mate Huka - Diabetes study

Reducing health inequalities and achieving health equity for Māori will depend on a better understanding of the science of implementation.

ESR's Māori Development Strategy aims to ensure that our science and research is relevant and supportive of Māori values and aspirations. We work together in partnership with Māori on the environmental health, public health, and forensic science issues that matter most as well as explore the interface between mātauranga Māori and science so our combined knowledges can better guide national and local policies for environmental management.

This study contributed to He Pikinga Waiora, a core project within the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge led by Maui Hudson from the University of Waikato. He Pikinga Waiora aims to develop sustainable and effective evidencebased interventions to help slow the progress of pre-diabetes to diabetes amongst Māori.

ESR's Social Systems team developed a systems map of the factors underpinning the problem of pre-diabetes to identify better pathways for how communities can make a difference.

Our team continues to work with He Pikinga Waiora and is developing a roadmap (or action strategy) to maximise the impact of Māori Implementation Science within health policy and delivery. Māori implementation science blends kaupapa Māori methods with systems thinking, community-based participatory research and knowledge translation theories to promote the integration of research findings and evidence in healthcare policy and practice.