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Contact Details

Phone
+64 21 199 6525
Email
jane.taafaki@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Postdoctoral Fellow
Qualifications
PhD (Otago), MPA University of Hawaii, BA George Washington University.
Research summary
Focused on Pacific and rural health
Teaching
Pacific health curriculum across allied health sciences (pharmacy, public health, dentistry, oral health, physiotherapy)
Memberships
  • Early Researchers Advancement Group
  • Southern All Clinical Immunisation Advisory Group
  • National Pacific Bowel Screening Advisory
Clinical
Pacific health and rural health

Research

  • Postdoctoral research: Creating a Pacific model of care based on success of Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group immunisation programme
  • HRC Activation Grant: Tauhi Va - building relationships between Pacific communities and community pharmacists
  • HRC Activation Grant: Empowering pathways in health for Pacific meatworkers
  • Paykel Trust: Vaccine hesitation among rural Pacific communities
  • HRC Project Grant: Rural health outcomes

Dr Taafaki is also Research Lead and health navigator for Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group.

Additional details

Tuvaluan-British by birth, Jane was born in England and lived in India until she was 11, before her family moved to the USA for her parents’ graduate school education. After university, she moved to the Marshall Islands for seven years before pursuing her Master’s in Honolulu, Hawaii where she worked for 15 years before moving to Oamaru, Otago to do her PhD studies. Her research was focused on the lived experiences of rural Tuvaluan migrants navigating the Aotearoa New Zealand healthcare system.

Jane's postdoctoral fellowship at the Va’a o Tautai - Centre for Pacific Health is on creating a model for COVID-19 response, based on the experiences of a small rural Otago Pacific Organisation. She is also heavily involved with a number rural health and school of Physiotherapy studies relating to COVID-19, Pasifika health and long-term musculoskeletal injuries of Pasifika meat workers.

Jane is married with three beautiful daughters. She is currently a full-time researcher within the Va’a o Tautai – Centre for Pacific Health, and has a role teaching the Pacific Health curriculum in Health Professional Programmes in the Division of Health Sciences.

Publications

Miller, R., Davie, G., Crengle, S., Liepins, T., Clay, L., Whitehead, J., Taafaki, J., de Graaf, B., & Nixon, G. (2024). Development of an interactive web app to examine rural-urban variation in COVID-19 vaccination rates and to inform case study site selection. New Zealand Population Review, 50, 325-351. Retrieved from https://population.org.nz/journal/ Journal - Research Article

Blattner, K., Clay, L., Keenan, R., Taafaki, J., Crengle, S., Nixon, G., Fortune, K., & Stokes, T. (2024). He Aroka Urutā: Rural health provider perspectives of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in rural Aotearoa New Zealand with a focus on Māori and Pasifika communities: A Qualitative study. Journal of Primary Health Care, 16(2), 170-179. doi: 10.1071/HC23171 Journal - Research Article

Taafaki, J. H. (2023). The lived experience of rural Tuvaluans navigating the Aotearoa New Zealand healthcare system (PhD). University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/15152 Awarded Doctoral Degree

Taafaki, J. (2021, September). We didn't come here empty handed: The lived experience of Tuvaluan migrants navigating the New Zealand healthcare system. Verbal presentation at the Achieving Health Equity from Research Conference [Otago Spotlight Series], Wellington, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Taafaki, J. (2020). The lived experience of Tuvaluan migrants navigating the New Zealand healthcare system. In A. Finigan, P. Vakaoti, R. Richards, M. Schaaf, M. Colombo, M. Taumoepeau & L. Moata'ane (Eds.), Proceedings of the Pacific Postgraduate Symposium: Pacific Voices XVII. (pp. 39). Dunedin, New Zealand: Pacific Islands Centre, University of Otago. Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/pacific Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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