Māori and Pacific Peoples Eye Health

In July 2021, the RANZCO Board endorsed the Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) principles following earlier endorsement by the New Zealand Branch.

• Tino rangatiratanga: The guarantee of tino rangatiratanga, which provides for Māori self-determination and mana motuhake in the design, delivery and monitoring of health and disability services.
• Equity: The principle of equity, which requires the Crown to commit to achieving equitable health outcomes for Māori.
• Active protection: The principle of active protection, which requires the Crown to act, to the fullest extent practicable, to achieve equitable health outcomes for Māori. This includes ensuring that it, its agents and its Treaty partner are well informed on the extent and nature of both Māori health outcomes and efforts to achieve Māori health equity.
• Options: The principle of options which requires the Crown to provide for and properly resource kaupapa Māori health and disability services. Furthermore, the Crown is obliged to ensure that all health and disability services are provided in a culturally appropriate way that recognises and supports the expression of hauora Māori models of care.
• Partnership: The principle of partnership which requires the Crown and Māori to work in partnership in the governance, design, delivery and monitoring of health and disability services. Māori must be co-designers, with the Crown, of the primary health system for Māori.

In July 2022, RANZCO signed an Tatau Pounamu/Memorandum of Understanding with Kāpō Māori Aotearoa New Zealand, a national indigenous, member-based and led society, to work collaboratively to improve indigenous eye health in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Through the partnership, Kāpō Māori and RANZCO Māori and Pacific Peoples Eye Health Committee have developed the Te Tiriti o Waitangi Action Plan (aka ‘Māori Action Plan’) focused on eye health care.

Underpinning this work are three guiding principles:

1. Genuine partnership with Māori
2. Cultural competence
3. Improving Māori representation within the ophthalmology workforce

This is yet another step forward in our efforts to improve equity of access for Māori populations and we will continue this process through further consultation with Māori.

A Pacific Peoples Action Plan (PAP) was also developed by the Māori and Pacific Peoples Eye Health Committee, with input from Pasifika Medical Association (PMA), to address eye health inequities for Pacific Peoples in Aotearoa.