Policy Implementation for Health Equity in Aotearoa: Examining Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Programs in Māori and Pasifika Communities

Prepared by Arnell Hinkle, August 2010

with funding from the sponsors of the Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellowships in Public Policy

About the author

Arnell Hinkle is the Executive Director of CANFIT in Berkeley, California, a national non profit organization, that provides training, technical assistance and policy development in the area of nutrition and physical activity for African American, Latino, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, and American Indian low-income communities throughout the United States. Arnell is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley.

During Arnell’s Ian Axford Fellowship exchange to New Zealand she was based at the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in Wellington, where she researched programmes promoting healthy lifestyles in Māori and Pacific communities in New Zealand.

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Abstract

Once sound public policies are developed, how can they be implemented in equitable ways that eliminate health disparities?

Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are the leading causes of the major non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. New Zealand launched the Healthy Eating, Healthy Action (HEHA) national strategy in 2003 to improve population health and decrease the incidences of non-communicable diseases.

This report briefly describes the evolution and devolution of HEHA, provides current data on Māori and Pacific health, presents snapshots of contextual issues such as colonisation, immigration, and culture that affect eating and physical activity, discusses the role that social determinants of health approach can play, documents existing policy reports and strategies that address eliminating health inequities; and concludes with a series of observations and recommendations for improving policy implementation practice.

The key audiences for these recommendations are community leaders, Ministry of Health professionals, non-governmental agencies, and ministry officials interested in practical suggestions and strategies for ensuring that current and future healthy eating and physical activity programmes in Aotearoa better serve Māori and Pacific communities. Also included in the report are two annotated PowerPoint presentations tailored to Māori and Pacific community providers.

Table of contents

Acknowledgments
Executive Summary
Preface
Introduction

1. Nutrition and physical activity in Aotearoa
2. Whakapapa: HEHA evolution and devolution
3. He tangata, he tangata: New Zealand contexts
4. Ako: My observations and teachings
5. Recommendations

Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix 1: PowerPoint with notes – Māori
Appendix 2: PowerPoint with notes – Pasifika
Appendix 3: Implementation strategy ideas
Appendix 4: Presentations given
Appendix 5: Glossary

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