Health: Reaching “The Unreachable”

MEDIA RELEASE – 6 JULY 2007

A Revolutionary Approach To Health Reaching
“The Unreachable”

A revolutionary approach to creating healthier lives for the people of Otara in Manukau City is being held up as a possible model for the rest of New Zealand.

A public health advocate, Maria Rehu, told the Public Health Association conference at Auckland University today that what is unique about Otara Health Inc is the community providing solutions to problems they identify.

“It was formed 10 years ago by community leaders who sourced funding, gathered evidence and acted upon it and the multi cultural community continues to be involved at governance level. OHI has also recruited and upskilled locals to deliver projects which means investment in the people of Otara as well as valuing local expertise in finding solutions to a range of health-related issues”.

As examples of how the community was involved Ms Rehu told the conference that between 1998 and 2001, 90 percent of Otara homes were visited by specially recruited locals who spoke to families in their own language about meningococcal disease.

In 2001, the majority of homes in Otara were visited by mixed ethnicity “ambassadors” to assess homes on whether they needed improvements to prevent occupants getting sick. They were then linked with government agencies such as Housing New Zealand, and advised on matters such as ventilation, mould, damp and rubbish.

In 2003, OHI joined with a Primary Health Organisation to provide community health worker and health promotion services, delivered by 14 workers of mixed ethnicity. And since it began in 2004, the Getting Started physical activity and healthy eating programme has had 950 people, mainly with obesity and diabetes, referred by their doctor to take up exercise and eat more healthily

“The Primary Health Care Strategy has, as one of its key aims, reducing health inequalities and barriers to good health for those with the greatest health needs. Involving community in governance and other processes is now a requirement for PHOs. Otara Health Inc was founded on these principles 10 years ago and the model has proved to be successful at improving community participation in defining and prioritising their health and social needs and strategies to improve their health outcomes.” Ms Rehu told the conference.

“Maori, Pacific peoples and low income New Zealanders are frequently referred to as “hard to reach”. OHI’s organisational model, community connections and principles for programme development and delivery have proven that through community participation at multiple levels, ‘hard to reach’ as a term to describe sub-groups and populations, becomes redundant.”

ENDS

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