Whiti ki Te Ao Session 1: International medical education video-conference: Keynote Address

(Matire Harwood) Te ORA were privileged to have Professor Mason Durie open the conference with his perspective (as tangata whenua and a doctor) on future opportunities and challenges for Māori health. This was in keeping with the theme ‘Whiti ki Te Ao Mārama – Determining our future’. But as we know, to look forward you must also look back and Mason opened his ko – rero with a chronicle of ‘transformational’ Māori doctors and their individual legacies; people like Maui and Eru Pōmare and more recently Paratene Ngata. Significant developments over the past 25 years in Māori health were presented along with the pathways to such change/improvements. These have included the development of Māori models of health, nationally-led policies, an indigenisation of health services, support for independent and specialised Māori providers and increased capacity in the Māori health workforce. Mason suggested that 2010 is an apppropriate time to look forward and identify ways to sustain these improvements. He proposed 5 key steps for the next 25 years (2010–2035): learning from our past; predicting the profile of Māori (projected number in 2035 estimated at 800,000!); scanning our ‘environment’ (looking at current Māori capabilities and possible benefits of technologies); understanding life course epidemiology (that what happens in utero and as pe – pi/tamariki will have long-term impacts. Examples include poor management of glue ear by health services and the impacts this has on education, later employment etc); and development of ‘scenarios’ (where do we see Māori, Māori doctors, whānau ora and health care in 25 years time). The presentation concluded with a frank discussion about the need for Māori doctors to ‘step up’ to the demand for leadership in Māori health. Mason suggested that we are ideally placed to undertake and work with others in this role given the potential of our ‘distinctive’ characteristics. As he sees it, Māori doctors should aspire to be exemplary practitioners (clinicians and researchers) and be participants in indigenous health networks. He inspired the audience to be proud of the unique skills and knowledge we have, our whakapapa, access to mātauranga Māori and iwi relationships, and our commitment to whānau ora.