Research
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Research
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We're involved in research projects, each one helping to make a difference to whanau health.
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Tangata Rite June 2024
TRUST Māori health providers to look after Māori communities in a pandemic, says Turanga Health in a government-funded report on how it managed Covid-19 in Tairāwhiti. The decision to vaccinate people at every opportunity, even when it meant deviating from the Government’s established criteria, was pivotal to achieving high rates of vaccine coverage in Tairāwhiti, the report says. Turanga Health administered nearly 21,000 vaccinations between May 2021 and December 2022, with 60 percent of the vaccinations received by Māori. Turanga Health held 185 drive-through and 161 static clinics at 173 urban and 65 rural settings, 33 workplaces, and 30 education centres. “We recognised the urgent imperative for action and vaccinated all whānau at every opportunity,” says Dr Shirley Keown, who is Turanga Health’s quality and research clinical advisor and the locally-based senior report researcher. The report Tangata Rite is part of nationwide Ministry of Health-funded research into ongoing impacts of Covid-19 and future pandemic responses. The local research included an exhaustive review of all the work carried out between 2020 and 2022, as well as interviews, surveys and wananga with kaimahi and stakeholders. Public feedback collected in real time was collated to help recapture the experiences of people who were vaccinated. 
Otago University Free Meds Study May 2023 Turanga Health quality and research clinical advisor Dr Shirley Keown contributed to a University of Otago study that went on to make a difference to thousands. The study involved whānau from Tairāwhiti and other regions and looked at whether exempting people with high health needs and living in areas of high deprivation from a $5 prescription charge reduces hospital use. Put simply, it does. Results of the study, published in the journal BMC Health Services Research revealed the intervention group members were much less likely to be hospitalised during the trial. Researchers, including Shirley, lobbied hard for the Ministry of Health and Pharmac to read the study. During the 2023 Government budget, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced they were scrapping the fee. He then referenced the study. “The Otago University study that we based a lot of our decision-making on indicates that there is a significant cost where people don’t pick up their prescriptions and end up back in the health system.” Full report Media statement | |||
