Researchers say New Zealand needs a Māori-specific strategy to eliminate tuberculosis, or TB, after a review found the current approach is failing to adequately control the disease.
The review, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, looked at 17 Māori people diagnosed with pulmonary TB in Waikato between 2018 and 2023.
It found TB rates among Māori were more than five times higher than among New Zealand-born Europeans.
Researcher Dr Nina Scott said tuberculosis had continued circulating in Māori communities because New Zealand had never done enough to control it.
She said historical efforts to tackle the disease focused on the non-Māori population.
Dr Nina Scott.
Supplied / Hei Āhuru Mōwai
“The government didn’t make a really big effort to control TB for Māori, and it still hasn’t made enough of an effort to control TB for Māori.”
Dr Scott said the current system also had significant gaps in contact tracing, diagnosis and support.
“The way that public health teams are resourced currently is they don’t actually have the capacity to trace as many of the contacts as need to be traced.”
The review found most of the contacts traced were household contacts, with few people outside the household identified and screened for TB infection.
Dr Scott said the health system was fragmented.
“Well, it’s a disjointed system, so people can go to their GP and GPs don’t see many cases of TB, so they may take a while to get diagnosed,” she said.
The researchers suggested a Māori-specific elimination strategy was essential if TB was to be eliminated.
“So having community workers who can go out and work with communities to do the contact tracing and engage with whanau in ways that are culturally safe to ensure that people are confident in sharing their information and getting tested and getting treated,” she said.
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