A new report commissioned by Ngati Porou Hauora was released at a hui at Te Puia Hospital earlier this week. The report titled the “Ngati Porou Hauora Health Dashboard” reveals some startling information about the health status of the resident population within the rohe of Ngati Porou. It chronicles the perilous state of health for whanau living between Hicks Bay in the north and Kaiti in Gisborne.

The report found that the Ngati Porou rohe has a high needs, rural population who die younger than any other population group in NZ and suffer more through co-morbidity factors on the way to an early death.

Other findings include:

• The avoidable death rate in the Ngāti Porou rohe is slightly more than twice (107% higher) the rate in New Zealand as a whole, and about 10% more than Tairāwhiti. It has the highest rate of avoidable death in the country.
• 91% of Ngāti Porou rohe population lives in very deprived areas (NZDep deciles 9 and 10) compared to 52% of Tairāwhiti DHB, and 20% of NZ.
• 100% of the coastal NPH population is classified as rural, the majority is classified as highly rural according to the definition of rurality (Statistics New Zealand), and 99% of these areas are very deprived in terms of socio-economic conditions
• In Census 2013, Māori made up of 70% of the population in Ngāti Porou rohe.
• NPH has one of the highest proportions of Māori in the Primary Health Organisations (PHO) enrolments in NZ (88% of NPH patients are Māori compared with 15% Māori in the total New Zealand PHO enrolment).
• The households in the Ngāti Porou rohe receive a much lower average equivalised income ($38,700) at about two-thirds of the New Zealand average income level ($57,800).
• Young people who are not in education, employment or training are at greater risk of a range of negative outcomes including poorer health, depression or early, unplanned parenthood. The Census 2013 figure for 20-24 year old youth at 37.2% for Ngāti Porou rohe is more than twice as high as the New Zealand average (15%).

Chairman of Ngati Porou Hauora, Teepa Wawatai, believes this in unacceptable and “is an indictment on health policy and funding particularly in areas of high need.”

Download the full report here and read the recommendations for action on public policy changes.

Closing The Gap has produced material with suggestions as to how you might influence your local body elections to promote the reduction of inequality.

You can access the resources here.