He mātanga o te taha pūtaiao o te hauora a Tākuta Matire Harwood kua whakawhiwhia ki te hōnore L'Oreal UNESCO mā ngā wāhine, mo āna rangahau i ngā mahi hē mo te taha hauora ki ngā iwi taketake.
He kairangahau a Tākuta Harwood kit e whare wānanga o Tamaki Makaurau, ā, kua roa ia e ngakaunui ana ki ngā mahi rangahau i te ao hauora mā ngā iwi taketake.
Ko tāna, "New Zealand are world leaders in this space, we collect the data and we collect really good ethnicity data and have been showing for a number of years now. Ever since i trained as a Doctor, it shows that there are inequities between Māori and non-Māori."
E manako ana ia mā te pūtea awhina e rua tekau ma rima mano te nui, ka whakatinanahia ana rangahau, hei painga ma te wha rau miriona uri iwi taketake puta noa i te Ao.
"It's only with our knowledge and values, with our understanding of what works for Māori health and what's going to help equity in New Zealand that we can actually do something about it."
Hei tā Tākuta Harwood, ko ngā whāinga matua mō ngāi Māori, he whakawhanake i tētahi ope mahi hauora, me te whakatakoto tūāpapa e arataki ai ngā iwi taketake i ngā mahi whakaora i raro anō i ngā tikanga Māori.
"We know the disparities in the area of suicide in particularly for Maori, which continue to climb with time and so this is going to be a big area of focus for me over the next 12 months."
Ko Tākuta Harwood tētahi o te hunga tokoiti Māori i Aotearoa e whai ana i ngā mahi pūtaiao mo te taha hauora, he ara na tana koroua tonu i pohewahewa.
"On one hand I was a little freaked out, because I didn't know anybody who had done medicine or I didn't know any Doctors and no one had been to University really at that point. Apart of me was freaking out!
But I thought if Pāpā tells you that this is what he wants to you to do, and if the whānau is behind it, then this is something I'm going to rise to the challenge and try do for him."
