Kaupapa Māori mental health services are receiving significantly less than their fair share of funding per capita, according to a new report.
The findings are highlighted in Te Huringa Tuarua 2023: Kaupapa Māori Services, the latest report from the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission (Te Hiringa Mahara), into kaupapa Māori services.
"Māori make up 17 per cent of the population and face higher levels of mental distress compared with other population groups, yet the level of resourcing fails to match this," Te Hiringa Mahara chair Hayden Wano says.
"Only 11 per cent of the current mental health and addiction expenditure is allocated to kaupapa services."
Roughly 30 per cent of Māori will experience mental distress to the level categorised as mental disorder in any given year, according to Wano.
The report details experiences of Māori within a health system that often neglects to prioritise te ao Māori and tikanga Māori principles.
Future funding
Wano says the government has committed to increasing future funding to help offset the current inequity through the new new Access and Choice programme.
"The government has committed to ensuring 20 per cent, or $35.5 million each year by June 30, 2024, is allocated to kaupapa Māori services and Māori providers. This is a positive step forward," Wano says.
"We want to see more funding allocation to follow the example set by the new Access and Choice programme."
Wano says beyond the commitments to increase kaupapa Māori funding within future funding programmes, existing funding needs to be more fairly distributed.
The pūtea also needs to go to by-Māori, for-Māori programmes, rather than approved mainstream programmes run within a Māori institution, he argues.
"These services also need to be empowered to design and deliver services tailored to their communities," Wano says.
"We advocate for the use of commissioning approaches that acknowledge the principles of mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga."
Looking for change
Focus groups that contributed to the research expressed hopes for more holistic services that span the life course, from "the crib to tomb" for tangata whaiora and their whānau.
The latest report isn't saying anything that people in the sector didn't already suspect, and it builds on earlier reports including the Oranga Tāngata, Oranga Whānau, and the Waitangi Tribunal's Hauora report.
"What we want to see now is change." Wano says.
After the funding equity issue is sorted, he says who the system is catering for needs to be investigated with a survey into which conditions are most prevalent.
"We advocate for a mental health and addiction survey to strengthen how decisions about investments are made."
