Māori scholarship winners announced by PHARMAC and Ngā Pou Mana
PHARMAC and Ngā Pou Mana Tangata Whenua Allied Health (Ngā Pou Mana) are pleased to announce the winners of scholarship awards for Māori kaimahi, students and community members who have had a positive impact on whānau, hapū, and iwi.
The awards support Māori allied health workforce development, so that people can continue to study and grow professional and cultural practice. They provide much needed tautoko and manaaki for Māori kaimahi and students to continue their ongoing development.
Horiana Hawaikirangi, from Tāmaki Makaurau, is one of two students who received a $1,500 Ngā Pou Mana Kete Aronui scholarship award this year, open to those studying at any level in an allied health pathway.
Horiana completed a Bachelor of Health Science at Massey University in 2019. Through her course papers and an assignment on the topic of midwifery, she realised that there was a real shortage of midwives in New Zealand - Māori midwives especially.
“I’ve always known in life I wanted to help whanau and the community and I can really apply myself here as a midwife,” Horiana says.
Allied health kaimahi make up about a third of the health workforce. They include physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, speech and language therapists, dietitians, podiatrists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, psychologists, counsellors, osteopaths, nutritionists, massage therapists, and many more.
For the majority of these professions, only 2-5% of the workforce are Māori. The Ngā Pou Mana awards recognise the need to grow the Māori allied health workforce to best respond to the needs of the communities they will serve.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to gain the scholarship and hoping to be able to use the award to gain knowledge on traditional Māori birthing practices I will be able to put into practice during my midwifery career.”
These traditional practices include using flax fibre to tie off the umbilical cord instead of clamps, and ipu whenua, a container for the placenta.
“Ngā Taonga Mātauranga o Ngā Pou Mana scholarships give recognition to the value of building the Māori health workforce. It also assigns the important aspect of cultural practise in the development of tauira and kaimahi who aspire to make a positive impact on whānau, hapū, and iwi,” says PHARMAC’s Chief Advisor Māori, Trevor Simpson.
“This year’s scholarship winners, as emerging leaders, are already making a valuable contribution to their communities. The awards are not only an acknowledgement of this but a gesture of reciprocity. In this way, we give appreciation to the belief that these scholarship winners will play a vital role in the future as conduits between PHARMAC and the Maori communities they serve.”
Ko Ngā Taonga Mātauranga o Ngā Pou Mana he whakawhiwhinga ki ngā tini Māori e tūmanakohia ki te whakapakari o ō rātou mātauranga hauora. Ia tau, ia tau ka tuku Te Pātaka Whaioranga i ēnei whakawhiwhinga kia whakapiki ake ngā mahi hauora kei roto rānō ngā whānau , hapū , iwi hoki. I tēnei tau e whitu ngā kaiwhiwhi e pūmau ana i ēnei paraihe. I ahu mai rātou i ngā kokonga o te motu. E mihi ake Te Pātaka Whaioranga ki a rātou . Nā , ko te wawata kia piki ake rātou ki ngā taumata hauora, hei kaihautū , kia whakaoti ai rātou i ngā tūmanako tuatinitini a iwi.
More information on the awards is available on Ngā Pou Mana’s website(external link).