

The Asthma Foundation is committed to making a difference for Maori with asthma, and has a Maori Responsiveness Plan. This evolving document provides us with a point of reference in working to improve Maori asthma disparities.
The plan has three key themes - Building Partnerships with Maori, Being Responsive to Maori and Being Effective for Maori and can be viewed here.
The Maori Responsiveness Plan identified the need to set up a Maori Reference Group to provide support and quality advice to the Asthma Foundation on key issues relating to asthma and respiratory services for Maori.
An important literature review of Respiratory Health for Maori commissioned by the Asthma Foundation and done by TMG Associates is available to read here.
Did you know that Maori died from asthma and other respiratory illnesses at two-and-a-half times the rate of non-Maori and that hospital admissions for tamariki with asthma were about 60 percent higher than for non-Maori children?
These are some of the findings by Te Ropu Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pomare research group at Otago University’s School of Medicine in Wellington. To read more about the findings of this research go to this link www.hauora.maori.nz.