Health Minister Tony Ryall announced the 25 providers and provider groups selected to develop and deliver Whanau Ora services to New Zealand Maori. Whanau Ora is an inclusive, integrated approach to providing health and social services to families across New Zealand that empowers families as a whole, rather than working on separate issues with individual family members. The successful applicants were chosen from 130 proposals and were selected for their readiness to provide services, scale of operation, scope of service provision, history of service delivery and outcomes achieved, and the quality of relationships within provider groups.
The selected providers include a wide range of organizations—some are existing Maori Primary Health Organizations (PHOs) that will expand their scope to integrate a range of services and providers, such as mental health care, smoking cessation programs, and fighting truancy; others are separate organizations that would work closely with a PHO at the point of the individual or family in need of assistance. Minister Ryall also launched the $6.6 million Whanau Integration, Innovation and Engagement Fund, open to these Whanau Ora providers as well as nongovernmental organizations.
Sources:
http://beehive.govt.nz/release/five+cars+driveway+down+one
http://nzdoctor.co.nz/un-doctored/2010/october-2010/29/whanau-fund-launched-.aspx