A leading Pasifika health professional wants the New Zealand government to address the disparity in Pacific health outcomes.
Conditions like diabetes and heart disease are prevalent among New Zealand's Pacific communities Photo: AFP
New Zealand's government announces its Budget for 2022 on Thursday and there are calls to tackle rising health issues which have only been exacerbated during the pandemic.
South Auckland consultant paediatrician Dr Teuila Percival said there needed to be a long-term plan to tackle some serious disease and illness.
"The things that are important to Pasifika are long term conditions like diabetes, heart disease, intermediate determinants of those conditions like obesity and inactivity and then we have children's health with lots of infectious diseases still, lots of respiratory disease.
"I think mental health, particularly with the current pandemic, has increasingly become a big issue for Pacific as well."
There needed to be better pathways to encourage more Pasifika to become doctors, medical managers and pharmacists, Percival said.