The Māori people are considered as the indigenous Polynesian people that settled in modern-day New Zealand between 1320 and 1350. It is believed that the culture associated with the Māori people has evolved independently when compared to some of the other Polynesian cultures. That has been driven by centuries of the Māori people being isolated, which played a key role in the formation of their distinct language, mythology, and craft among other cultural identifiers. Currently, small populations of the Māori people can be found in other countries outside New Zealand, including Australia, United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, among others.
The main health disparity associated with the Māori people reflects on the cultural group’s socioeconomic status. It can be noted that access to health care services for the Māori is somewhat limited taking into account that the governments in New Zealand and Australia have not put the relevant infrastructure to cater to the aboriginal population, which includes the Māori people. The Māori people are facing serious health issues, which include diabetes, cancer, and infant mortality accounting for 13.6%, 23.4%, and 9.6% of deaths reported respectively (Dyall, Kepa, Hayman, Teh, Moyes, Broad, & Kerse, 2013). The issues have been driven due to a lack of health institutions that are specifically designed to cater to the health needs of the Māori cultural group.
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The Māori cultural group has embraced traditional forms of medicine as part of dealing with a wide array of health care issues affecting the community. Ellison-Loschmann & Pearce (2006) indicate that the use of natural herbs as a form of treatment for health conditions is common among the Māori community attributed to the lack of access to modern medicine. The demand for traditional medicine has been driven by the fact that a majority of the Māori people seem to embrace outdated cultural practices that seek to direct them towards such traditional approaches. The impact that this is having is that it is not only exposing them to serious health risks but is also creating a challenge in seeking to deal with possible epidemics.
The Māori cultural group holds a common belief that seeks to define the cause of an illness based on the social and spiritual dysfunction. The Māori people are a highly religious community; thus, allowing them to believe in the fact that supernatural interventions are a likely cause of serious illnesses (Harris, Tobias, Jeffreys, Waldegrave, Karlsen, & Nazroo, 2006). Consequently, this has affirmed the attitude that the Māori people hold concerning modern medicine, as they believe that it does not reflect on their spiritual expectations. The impact that this has had is that it has led to a significant number of people opting for traditional approaches to medicine in comparison to the idea of having to seek health care services in hospitals and health institutions.
The main contributing factor to the health challenges that the Māori people are facing is a clear lack of socioeconomic and political inclusion. Anderson, Crengle, Kamaka, Chen, Palafox, & Jackson-Pulver (2006) take note of the fact that the Māori have been significantly isolated on a wide array of socioeconomic and political issues, which include employment and health care. The outcome of this is that the governments often ignore the health needs associated with the Māori people when compared to some of the other communities. That has prompted the Māori people to place more emphasis on the traditional approaches to medicine as a way of ensuring that they can deal with some of the underlying health issues.
References
Anderson, I., Crengle, S., Kamaka, M. L., Chen, T. H., Palafox, N., & Jackson-Pulver, L. (2006). Indigenous health in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. The Lancet , 367 (9524), 1775-1785.
Dyall, L., Kepa, M., Hayman, K., Teh, R., Moyes, S., Broad, J. B., & Kerse, N. (2013). Engagement and recruitment of Māori and non-Māori people of advanced age to LiLACS NZ. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health , 37 (2), 124-131.
Ellison-Loschmann, L., & Pearce, N. (2006). Improving access to health care among New Zealand'sZealand's Maori population. American journal of public health , 96 (4), 612-617.
Harris, R., Tobias, M., Jeffreys, M., Waldegrave, K., Karlsen, S., & Nazroo, J. (2006). Effects of self-reported racial discrimination and deprivation on Māori health and inequalities in New Zealand: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet , 367 (9527), 2005-2009.
