Project purpose: The project is a pilot for a larger project tracking phonological development (speech skills) in Māori for Māori speaking pre-school children. Although there is a substantial body of literature on how children develop speech sounds in English we know nothing about the developmental trajectory in Māori.

Inequalities in child health between tamariki Māori and non-Māori are largely preventable and unnecessary. An example is rheumatic fever, where tamariki Māori are 30 times more likely to contract the disease than non-Māori. Being ill as a child has a big impact on school attendance and outcomes, and it may cause lifelong disability or illness. There are high costs involved, for the health system, society and to whānau. This study aimed to estimate how much not doing anything to reduce child health inequities really costs us.
 

There are multiple Government funded initiatives aimed at addressing Māori language decline, including increasing the amount of Māori Language spoken, maintenance and quality. Te Puni Kokiri (2006 Health of the Māori Language Report) touched on the attitudes of wider New Zealand society towards the Māori language as unengaging and unlikely to change in the immediate future (p.7). Te Kura Roa-Waiaro proposes to examine the attitude of Government (National and Local) policy in an attempt to gauge  how responsive the state (NZ) is to the Māori language.  From this study this project will ascertain what interventions can be developed to improve the Māori language.

This project is contributing to the key policy area of whānau ora/ family wellbeing via new analysis of the wealth of data contained in the six national household censuses of 1981 to 2006. Indicators of family wellbeing have been developed to identify trends across 25 years with the team having produced several reports and publications on measuring changes and key factors affecting family and whānau wellbeing.

Objectives:

This project examines rongoā (traditional Māori knowledge of medicinal plants) to find ways to improve animal health naturally, and overall, manage farms with respect for the land.

Tangi is the ultimate form of Māori cultural and community expression. Addressing the dearth of scholarly information, this study considers tangi practice, whakapapa, changing environments, community values, sharing knowledge, ritual and what it means to be Māori.

This research was carried out on behalf of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. The primary research aim was to find out how Māori individuals and whānau have been affected by problem gambling and the strategies they have taken to address this issue.
 

Health promotion was traditionally delivered within a public health setting in New Zealand. With changes to primary care delivery, health promotion is increasingly delivered within the primary care setting due to national strategy changes aimed at improving health outcomes. Rather than dealing primarily with the individual in a treatment and support role, primary care is now also tasked with providing preventative and health promotion activities. This research focussed on what organisational pre-requisites are necessary for implementing and funding a Māori health promotion framework in a primary care setting.

The research team for this project in collaboration with Ngāi Tūhoe have sought to actively engage tanagata whenua with all agencies that support building capability in management of wild populations of  Whio (Blue Duck). Whio is one of New Zealand’s national iconic wildlife species. Their presence within our rivers symbolises the completeness and health of our waterways. Whio are currently nationally threatened by predation from introduced predators, loss of habitat, and global climate change; they are not fully secured from extinction.
 

This project is developing a computer based bioengineered model of the human eye to give greater insight into eye disease and treatments. This will help patients and families better understand their eye and vision exams, and have improved clinical outcomes, says Jason.