An Otago University researcher says health providers are not doing enough to ensure Maori patients in isolated rural communities are getting the treatment they need for rheumatic fever.
A research team from the University's pharmacy school investigated medicines dispensed in the Te Tairawhiti region on the North Island East Coast.
They found that rural Maori received fewer antibiotics than the rest of the population, despite the fact that they need them more due to far higher rates of rheumatic fever. The condition can go on to cause permanent heart damage.
The researchers say barriers such as poverty, isolation and lack of reliable transport to pick up medicines or visit a doctor are likely to be some of the reasons for the low levels of antibiotic use by rural Maori.
One of the leaders, Professor Pauline Norris, says while special arrangements are made to get medicines to rural residents by using local stores or businesses as delivery depots, the study shows that more needs to be done for rheumatic fever cases.
Professor Norris says one system that's working is in Flaxmere outside Hastings, in which health workers check children at primary schools for sore throats and deliver medicines to the houses of those who need them.