Canterbury health, wellbeing and educational experts have
come together with tangata whenua and Pacific Island groups
in a ground-breaking collaboration to improve outcomes for
the region’s youngest and most vulnerable.
Research
for Children Aotearoa is a collaboration led by Te Papa
Hauora Health Precinct. It includes researchers from the
Universities of Canterbury and Otago, and the Pasifika
Medical Association, and Ngāi Tūāhuriri.
The
collaboration’s first project was a hui where whānau
living with diabetes, community groups, and health experts
met to discuss what research is needed to fill crucial
information gaps and, ultimately, improve outcomes for young
people with diabetes.
Te Papa Hauora independent chair
Peter Townsend says its focus is bringing people and
organisations together to ‘supercharge’ health research,
education and innovation opportunities in the region.
Research for Children Aotearoa brings together educational
experts such as speech-language therapists and psychologists
with child medical specialists. The involvement of Ngāi
Tūāhuriri and The Pasifika Medical Association ensures the
group’s mahi helps improve equity and meets the needs of
our diverse community.
“To make the biggest
difference you bring people with complementary but different
skills, expertise and world views together. Research for
Children Aotearoa is being more strategic about the work
that needs to be done for the next
generation.”
Professor Gail Gillon (Ngāi Tahu iwi)
heads the University of Canterbury’s Child Well-Being
Research Institute.
“Aotearoa New Zealand has a
strategy to make it the best place in the world for children
to live. That’s a challenging task involving complex
issues so we need a trans-disciplinary response. Canterbury
has collaborations in health research and education through
Te Papa Hauora. Research for Children Aotearoa further
extends this mahi to support tamariki and their
whanau.”
Associate Professor Tony Walls is a
paediatrician and head of the University of Otago,
Christchurch’s paediatric department. His clinical and
research speciality is childhood infectious
diseases.
“As clinicians we see a lot of
particularly young children and infants coming to the
hospital from communities that are disadvantaged. That’s
an area those of us involved in Research for Children
Aotearoa would really like to make improvements
on.”
Kiki Maoate is a paediatric surgeon, Associate
Dean of Pacific at the University of Otago, Christchurch,
and president of the Pasifika Medical
Association.
“Research for Children Aotearoa brings
a new form of energy into being advocates for children. To
ensure our families are treated well, our children are
treated well. Getting our workforce to line up and mentor
our young researchers. We want to create a longevity of
change so we can impact the health and wellbeing outcomes
for our families and children 10, 20 years into the
future.”
Amber Clarke (Ngāi Tūāhuriri) represents
Whitiora as part of the Research for Children Aotearoa
collaborative and on the Te Papa Hauora council. She says
Research for Children Aotearoa aims to ground research in
the communities it is seeking to serve.
“We have the
opportunity to really transform the lives of tamariki and
their whānau. How do we do that? We start to listen. We
allow communities, whānau and tamariki to define what their
aspirations and needs are. We then draw on collaborations
such as Research for Children Aotearoa to shape research and
innovation and contribute to something greater to what we
could have done as individuals, communities or
institutions.”
© Scoop Media
Discussion about this post