Ethnic Health Leaders came together yesterday, 6 December 2022. to launch the Ethnic Health Collective (EHC) to ensure health equity for ethnic communities.
Highlighting the diverse and complex health needs of ethnic communities, EHC aims to influence the health outcomes of ethnic groups in New Zealand.
Vishal Rishi, Inaugural Chair of the Strategy Group, said, “We want to create a space for ethnic communities at the heart of impact and change to ensure that they are supported and resourced to develop their solutions and ideas.”
About Ethnic Health Collective
EHC works to strengthen the community infrastructure, encourage local action, gather insight, and understand ethnic communities’ certain resistance to health and well-being.
EHC envisages investing in collaborative public health initiatives and developing a collective voice to influence government health policy and decision-making to ensure investment for equitable health outcomes for Ethnic Communities.
Kelly Feng, a Member of the Strategy Group said, “Our approach to advancing and influencing government policy change will be collaborative, and we want to ensure diverse perspectives and voices in the policymaking space. We will be proactively seeking partnerships with both government and non-government organisations, as well as businesses.”
Four Pillars
EHC has structured four pillars to achieve its goals.
Facilitate Collaboration with research institutes, health agencies, non-governmental organisations, and community organisations to develop cross-sectoral inter and intra-government partnerships.
Dr Roshni-Peiris-John, a Strategy Group member said that Ethnic Health Collective provides an opportunity to see synergies between research and practice. “We eagerly look forward to this opportunity to better understand research needs and advance ethnic health research in Aotearoa New Zealand,” he said.
Influence Health Policy, Strategy, and Investment by informing government decision-making around healthcare policy for ethnic communities and strengthening funding for primary prevention and equitable access to economic, social and cultural determinants of health.
Gather and Disseminate Research, Insights, and perspective through both formal research and informal community stories, perspectives, and insights.
Build Community Infrastructure and provisions to improve Public Health by ensuring better primary prevention and whole-population response for ethnic communities.
EHC seeks to support and develop community action to facilitate better health and social care delivery for ethnic communities.
Community Representatives
The Strategy Group includes representatives of The Asian Network Incorporated (TANI).
They are Vishal Rishi, Asian Family Services, Kelly Feng, Centre for Asian and Ethnic Minority Health Research and Evaluation (CAHRE), School of Population Health. University of Auckland, Dr Rachel Simon Kumar, Dr Roshini Peiris-John, Centre for Migrant and Refugee Health Research, School of Public Health, University of Auckland, Dr Eleanor Holroyd, Representative from the University of Otago, Dr Sherly Parackal, Public Health Physician, Dr Suneela Mehta, Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand, Dr Grace Wong, Former President of Auckland Chinese Medical Association (ACMA) and GP, Dr Carlos Lam, and Kāhui Tū Kaha-Yasser El Shall.
TANI is the founding organisation of the Ethnic Health Collective (EHC) and will be the fund holder of the Ethnic Health Collective in the formative stages.
Malini Yugendran is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Auckland.
