Better Lives: The Struggle for Health of Transnational Pacific Peoples in New Zealand,1950-2000

Abstract

This historical study sets the context for understanding the current health situation of Pacific peoples in New Zealand. Our title is an attempt to invoke Polynesian understandings of health and to convey the aspirations of Pacific peoples who have made New Zealand their home. The monograph discusses transnationalism and the demographic history of Pacific peoples in New Zealand, the changing patterns of health and health research, and the development of specific Pacific health services and Pacific led health care and health promotion. A chapter on tuberculosis and Pacific people in New Zealand weaves together the key themes of this story. Apparent throughout is the mixed progress towards better health for Pacific people in New Zealand, the way in which the same health problems are rediscovered each decade, and the growing recognition that ‘Pacific Islanders’ are here to stay in New Zealand but in the context of extended transnational families.