Health Problems Affecting the Maori People Paper Example

Quiz 1: Health Problems Affecting the Maori People

Healthcare has become a top priority for most governments across the world with pundits hold on the idea that a healthy nation prospers economically. The Maori, an indigenous group from New Zealand, have exhibited susceptibility to various diseases. The group also experiences multiple challenges accessing healthcare services from various health facilities in the country. This paper seeks to describe the life of the Maori people by analyzing the health challenges facing the group as well as provide recommendations to barriers that relate to access and utilization of healthcare services.

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Mental Disorders

Statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that the prevalence of mental disorders among the Maori stand at 50.7 % in the period of their entire lifetime while anxiety stood out as the common lifetime disorder among the Maori at 31.3%. Substance use disorder followed closely 26.5% whereas s the mood disorder closed with 24.3% (Hollands et al., 2015). The figures further indicated that Maori in the age bracket of 25-44 experienced the highest lifetime occurrence of any disease with those aged 65 and over experiencing the lowest. Most cases of mental disorders among the Maori arose from the difficult economic situation that the groups go through in their rural set-ups. Domestic wrangles also contributed immensely to psychotic disorder among Maori women. Suicides have also increased in recent years among the Maori attributed to mental disorders such as stress, depression and anxiety.

Diabetes

New Zealand plays host to many European populations and also the Polynesian group that consists of the Maori who migrated from Pacific Islands. The occurrence of diabetes in the Maori population appeared high than in other parts of the country's population. Maori people are genetically susceptible to various diseases, unlike their European counterparts who show higher resistance to the same conditions. There is an increase in the prevalence of obesity and also the population of the elderly people factors that have led to a high incidence of type 2 diabetes (Dobson & Whittaker, 2016). There is also a steady rise in the prevalence of type 1 diabetes. Diabetic nephropathy stands as the most common end stage of renal failure among the Maori. Socio-economic as well as cultural factors lead to inadequate medical care contributes immensely to the propensity of Type 2 diabetes amongst the Maori people.

Cancer

Figures indicate that 1.91 Maori men and 2.18 Maori women were likely to succumb to disease than their European counterparts. Cancer mortality rates among the Maori men gives a figure of 72.5-102.0 for 100,000 from the 2006-11 for men while 72.2 to 109.4 for 100,000 females (Boyd, Page & Thomson, 2018). Notably, the trends change depending on the type of cancer. Cancer registration indicated a decline in the incidences of cervical cancer. Lung cancer, on the other hand, indicated an increase that was followed by a sharp decrease in both Maori women and men.

Quiz 2: A Review of the Current Health Services Available to Maori

Mental Health Services

New Zealand government invests nearly $ 24 million annually on primary mental health services to people with both mild and modest mental health. The facilities include enhanced access to psychological therapies, psychosocial interventions among others. The Ministry of Health also finances computerized Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy for the young and adults suffering from depression and anxiety by e-therapy tools that apply to adults and SPARX that targets the young. Acquisition and implementation of the electronic depression decision enhancing tool in general medical practice have made it easier for medics to assess the magnitude of depression, encourage self-management and access to resources.

Oral Health

The government has spent $ 199 million in 2015/2016 on the provision of oral health services provided by DHBs. The government provides free oral health services to children as well as adolescents up to 18 years. The facilities are provided by Community Oral Health Services (COHS) to primary school children and pre-schoolers until completion of year 8. Dentists under the contract of DHBs provided the services to adolescents until they turn 18 years. The government has invested $ 116 million to COHS since 2006 regarding new infrastructure. The service now has 1,263 sites in the entire country with 157 mobile clinics and 176 fixed clinics (Hayes, 2016).

Quiz 3: Examination of the Current use of Facilities regarding Utilization and Access

Adults from deprived neighborhoods and families demonstrate a high frequency visits the GPs. Many Maori also accessed healthcare services provided by the government for free particularly in the mobile clinics. Charged services explain the low number of Maori patients seeking healthcare in the various health facilities (Wirihana & Smith, 2014). Location of the healthcare facilities also determined the number of patients who visited. Poor infrastructure and cultural beliefs hindered access to healthcare services. The Maori people preferred to enroll the services of traditional healers to their accessibility, and most of them reside in the remote villages (Wheaton, Roy & Olive, 2017). Inadequate medical personnel at the various healthcare centers reduced the utilization of the same facilities as patients avoided the long waiting time they were subjected to as they waited for their turn to receive the required medical attention. Limited government funding also has limited access to medical services since it limits the provision of quality services (Kira, Brignano & Santos, 2018). Quality services attract patients to the facilities, but when the same is compromised, the Maori easily prefer to visit the traditional healers for the same services. Limited information on the government health services among the Maori has also become a significant barrier to utilization and access to the healthcare services.

Quiz 4: Barriers to Access and Utilization of the Services

Economic Barriers

Most Maori live in extreme poverty which it very difficult for them to access health care services at the various medical facilities in the country. The indigenous population also inhabits the interior regions of the country where the healthcare facilities have little presence (Walker, Clendon & Nelson, 2015). Accessing the facilities means the individuals were walking long distances or seeking funds to cater for their travelling expenses which pose as a challenge. The healthcare facilities may also prescribe drugs for the patients who have to buy them at their own cost and since finances stand as a challenge, then the process grounds to a halt leading to worsening or fatality of the patient.

Cultural barriers

The Maori people have a different approach when it comes to their traditional medication. The process of healing and diagnosis among the Maori encompass a holistic approach that includes the body, mind and the spirit. Traditionally, the medical practitioners among the Maori passed down their skills to the younger generations composed of the modern Maori healers who still put into practice the concepts (Pitama, Huria & Lacey, 2014). The indigenous population has absolute trust in the healers than in the contemporary medical experts and therefore prefers to seek medication from the healers than from the various healthcare facilities across the country. The traditional healers use local herbs from the environment that come at no costs to heal their patients, and due to their popularity and availability, they stand preferred (Schluter et al., 2016). It, therefore, follows that the Maori people shun available medical facilities to seek medical services to the traditional healers offer cheap and affordable services.

Quiz 5: Recommendations to Improve Health Service Utilization and Access

Increasing the Number of Mobile and Permanent Health Facilities

Providing more mobile healthcare clinics across the country to ensure that services move close to the Maori people will enhance access and utilization of services. McClintock, Tauroa and Mellsop (2016) indicate that Maori people use healthcare facilities depending on the time and distance between their residence and the facilities. Most of the Maori people keep off health care services due to the travelling costs and other inconveniences that come with seeking medical help. Every village ought to have either a mobile or a permanent clinic to ensure that the entire health service moves as close to the people as possible.

Increasing the Number of Health Practitioners

The government can also increase the number of health practitioners in the various medical facilities across the country to ensure that the Maori people receive timely medical attention. Increased number of health experts in the different mobile and permanent medical facilities will provide efficient and quick delivery of medical services to the patients (Schluter, Kanagaratnam, Taylor & Tautolo, 2017). In the same light, adequate personnel will reduce congestion of patients at the various healthcare facilities across the country. Raymont, Boyd, Malloy and Malloy (2015) indicate that provision of adequate medical personnel ensures that patients also receive timely diagnosis and treatment of diseases to prevent them from spreading or getting worse. Importantly, timely attendance of the patients will reduce suffering in the healthcare facilities among patients which resulted in fatalities of patients that discouraged the Maori from visiting the various healthcare facilities spread across the country. Adequate medical experts at the health facilities will reduce the workload on the individuals which will enable them to work without fatigue and thus provide optimal services to the patients.

References

Boyd, D. H., Page, L. F., & Thomson, W. M. (2018). The Hall Technique and conventional restorative treatment in New Zealand children's primary oral health care-clinical outcomes at two years. International journal of paediatric dentistry, 28(2), 180-188.

Dobson, R., & Whittaker, R. (2016). November). Using text messaging to extend diabetes self-management support outside the clinic environment. In INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE (Vol. 23, pp. S240-S240). 233 SPRING ST, NEW YORK, NY 10013 USA: SPRINGER.

Hayes, R. (2016). Whanau Ora: A Maori health strategy to support Whanau in Aotearoa. Whitireia Nursing and Health Journal, (23), 25.

Hollands, T., Sutton, D., Wright-St Clair, V., & Hall, R. (2015). Maori mental health consumers' sensory experience of Kapa Haka and its utility to occupational therapy practice. New Zealand Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(1), 3.

Kira, K., Brignano, S., & Santos, D. (2018). Good Start to Life: Co-designing a maternal and infant preventative health strategy with the Maori and Pacific Islander community in Queensland. International Journal of Integrated Care, 18(s1).

McClintock, K., Tauroa, R., & Mellsop, G. (2016). An examination of child and adolescent mental health services for Maori rangatahi [youth]. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 21(1), 56-63.

Pitama, S., Huria, T., & Lacey, C. (2014). Improving Maori health through clinical assessment: Waikare o te Waka o Meihana. The New Zealand Medical Journal (Online), 127(1393).

Raymont, A., Boyd, M. A., Malloy, T., & Malloy, N. (2015). Rural health care in New Zealand: the case of coast to coast health centre, Wellsford, an early integrated family health centre. Journal of primary health care, 7(4), 309-315.

Schluter, P. J., AhuririDriscoll, A., Anderson, T. J., Beere, P., Brown, J., DalrympleAlford, J., ... & Keeling, S. (2016). Comprehensive clinical assessment o...