Indigenous And Ethnic Minorities: Aotearoa New Zealand

Significant health disparities exist in Aotearoa New Zealand between ethnic groups, with indigenous and minority communities carrying a disproportionate burden of disease. The current emphasis on increasing access to pharmaceutical treatment for such groups is questioned by critical scholars of medicine who argue that illness cannot be adequately addressed without understanding the wider socioeconomic dimensions of “health” and different cultural explanations of the same thing. This article concludes with some cautionary remarks on the development of pharmacogenomics research in Aotearoa New Zealand.