With the disestablishment of key roles and functions at the NPHS, it is clear that Māori and Pacific workers and their whānau continue to bear the brunt of job cuts in the public sector.
Te Whatu Ora is proposing to downsize both its Māori and Pacific public health teams – including disestablishing the NPHS’s entire Māori health team.
The magnitude of the job cuts announced by the NPHS will have immediate and long-term negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of some of the most disadvantaged members of our communities.
We know that Māori whānau as well as Pacific peoples endure significantly poorer health outcomes than other people and these job cuts will cement poor health well into the future.
The decision of the Coalition Government to make severe cuts to the public health workforce will have widespread impacts on some of our most disadvantaged communities, and will contribute to an expansion of the health and social disparities that already exist.
While Health NZ claims that their decisions are based on financial constraints, they fail to recognise that the impacts of these cuts will be felt for generations to come.
Already, we are seeing signs of adverse mental health outcomes among the more than 6000 public servants who have lost their jobs. Many of those made redundant are sole income earners and most of them are now faced with applying for jobs that don’t exist or relying on benefits.
Moving to other locations to find work, including those across the Tasman, is not an option for Māori and Pacific people because the communities to which they belong are here in Aotearoa.
These cuts are certain to create health and social problems well into the future, with the greatest negative impact being felt in communities that can least afford it.
The reduction in public health services will have widespread repercussions well into the future and beyond.
Dr Clive Aspin
Public health researcher on behalf of STIR (Stop Institutional Racism)