In 2018, Dr Jason Gurney (Ngāpuhi) was awarded a Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) Māori Emerging Leader Fellowship to further investigate cancer survival and palliative care disparities between Māori and non-Māori New Zealanders. Though a comprehensive body of investigative work – combined with key professional development objectives – this Fellowship aimed to confront the issue of cancer survival, quality of life and palliative care for Māori cancer patients, and to influence change.
The four research objectives of his Fellowship were:
- To identify and prioritise cancers for which the most urgent attention is needed to improve survival outcomes for Māori;
- To describe the most important quality of life and palliative care priorities for terminally-ill Māori patients suffering from these priority cancers;
- To determine the extent to which survival, quality of life and palliative care factors are modifiable, and at what level, for each priority cancer;
- To propose the key social and health service investments required to improve these outcomes for Māori as quickly as possible.
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"Māori cancer patients tend to be younger, poorer, less likely to have material resources, more likely to be looking after family members, and more likely to have comorbidity than non-Māori patients. In other words, Māori cancer patients are different in many important respects to non-Māori patients – and thus it is not surprising that a health system designed primarily to serve the latter will result in unequal outcomes for the former."
Jason Gurney
This Fellowship provided the opportunity for both PI Gurney and the Cancer and Chronic Conditions (C3) Research Group to complete a substantial body of research in the context of Māori cancer survival equity. As a direct result of this work, PI Gurney and members of the C3 team have formed a close working relationship with policy makers in government, including a foundational relationship with Te Aho o Te Kahu – Cancer Control Agency.
The work completed during the Fellowship identified some crucial pathways across the cancer spectrum where services can work better for Māori, with a view to improving cancer survival outcomes and reducing survival disparities. PI Gurney and the C3 team are ensuring the continuity of this work by building directly on the research foundations set by this Fellowship: