Childhood immunisation through a Te Ao Māori lens

We partnered with locally engaged facilitators and participants across Aotearoa to undertake co-design wānanga at local marae and hapori hubs - connecting with tāngata within their local contexts.

Taking a phased collaborative approach with our co-design partners (including māmā, pāpā, nannies, aunties and clinical representatives from across the motu), we explored past and current whānau experiences with immunising pēpi and tamariki and developed a deep understanding of their perceptions and beliefs. We wanted to understand what an engaging communications strategy could look like for them. We discovered that whānau wanted trusted rauemi, that look and feel authentically Māori, to assist them to make informed decisions and enrich the hauora of their tamariki.

By utilising local experience, insights, and mātauranga, we were able to prioritise the recommendations provided by both māmā and whānau hau kāinga to determine the content, context and design, providing us with a roadmap for the development of these rauemi.

Together we developed physical rauemi including a pukapuka and an immunisations scheduling tool inspired by the maramataka. The final pukapuka Pīwari the Kaitiaki takes whānau and tamariki on a journey of understanding about immunisations and how they can enhance our hauora.

The final immunisations scheduling rauemi takes inspiration from our maramataka. To support this rauemi we developed a Matapihi - an interactive maramataka tracking tool for whānau and tamariki to engage with the phases of the Marama.

These rauemi are now available and can be ordered or downloaded from the Whakamarama webpage which was developed to host the rauemi alongside Rongoā and karakia (the two most highly desired additions) and provide more information to aid whānau.

We would like to acknowledge our incredible and inspiring Ngā Hau e Whā co-design partners from Whangārei, Taranaki, Waihōpai, and Te Puia; our awesome illustrator Izzy Joy Te Aho-White; and the amazing team at Te Whatu Ora - Health Promotion.

Ka tuku mihi atu ki ngā tāngata, ki ngā mātua, wāhine mā, tāne mā across ngā hau e whā who shared their mātauranga, thoughts, feelings and valuable time to inform this kaupapa.

“Pīwari Pukapuka is awesome, easy to read and fun. I cannot wait to get my hands on this resource to share at our community vax events, with our mama at Maternity, with our mama/pēpi kaiāwhina, with our whānau in our medical centres.”

“...I know that if I was sitting on the fence about childhood immunisations that these resources [would] definitely change my mind about it. Big mihi to the hauora for allowing this opportunity!”

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