Tolaga Bay – Tāne Hauora Kaupapa – Prostate Cancer Kōrero
Men from across Tairāwhiti are invited to a special health kōrero at Tolaga Bay this Blue September, as part of at Te Whare Hauora o Te Aitanga a Hauiti monthly men’s group gathering on 16 September. The talk will be delivered by Dr Oka Sanerivi, a Samoan-Tongan physiotherapist and Senior Research Fellow at Mātai Medical Research Institute, who will unpack what prostate cancer is, why Māori and Pacific men continue to face significant inequities in diagnosis and outcomes, and what current clinical pathways look like for men navigating the health system.
Dr Sanerivi will also share the innovative research taking place at Mātai to improve early detection and treatment for Indigenous men, and will introduce the group to Papa Moana — an Indigenous men’s prostate cancer health research programme and service he founded to bring culturally grounded care closer to home. This mahi is supported by Dr Sanerivi’s Royal Society Te Apārangi Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship, which backs his work exploring Indigenous men’s health. Rooted in Pacific frameworks of wellbeing and drawing on the scholarship of Māori and Pacific leaders, Papa Moana aims to close the gap in prostate cancer outcomes for Māori and Pacific men. Events like this highlight why strong collaboration between local health researchers, clinicians and iwi health providers like Hauiti Hauora is so critical — particularly for rural communities up the East Coast, where partnerships grounded in trust and shared purpose are often what make equitable healthcare genuinely reachable.