Hauora: Health and Wellbeing - Everyone's Right

Nga hau e wha, nga iwi e tau nei, tena koutou katoa.

E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

My greetings to you all, people who have gathered from near and far.  To all honoured guests, to the speakers, my respects and, again, my greetings.

Greeting: Richard Wallace (Kaumatua and Council member, Health Promotion Forum), Te Herekiekie Herewini (Chair, Health Promotion Forum), Doc Wikiriwhi (Kaumatau), Dr Alison Blaiklock (Executive Director, Health Promotion Forum), members of the Council of the Health Promotion Forum, speakers, conference participants.

Thank you for inviting me to take part in Hauora: Health and Wellbeing - Everyone's Right. I am particularly interested in the fact that the focus of this symposium is the use of human rights as a model in the promotion of public health initiatives and disease prevention. 

About ten years ago I was elected as a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Since that time, I have retained an interest in the area of women's human rights and have, from time to time spoken on the issue. Although obliged to relinquish my membership of the Committee upon becoming Governor-General, I have nonetheless spoken on many occasions to all manner of groups on a wide range of topics, from peace, to children, and often women. Frequently those asking me to speak have not identified that the topic essentially is one of human rights, but these are topics that permeate everyday life in New Zealand, and that do not need a label for us to identify with them.

So I welcome the opportunity to address you today, as you consider a rights' framework for the promotion and protection of the health of our population. Human rights' standards are not only a useful model, but a necessary tool when trying to enact cultural change and ensure social justice.  Human rights models, be they local or derived from larger international initiatives, can also be useful tools in the pursuit of a healthier community. Almost invariably they are principles that have been developed over many years, with the collaboration of experts both academic and consumer, and have been widely accepted as a relevant measure for the improvement of human health and welfare. They are not dreamed up by those who wish to do good, but lack the knowledge and wisdom to achieve a practical outcome.  They are values born of a depth of human experience.  Identifying health as a human rights' issue has long been part of the struggle for equity, here and internationally, be it for women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, rights for the elderly, the disabled, indigenous peoples and increasingly for men too.

Gender, ethnicity and economic status are clearly interconnected, especially when we are considering the issues that surround health legislation, education, access, resources and prevention.

Everyone here today knows that 'health' is a complicated issue, and that there are few, if any, areas of our lives unaffected by it. Those who enjoy good health tend not to think about it and usually attribute life's successes to other variables. Many aspire to better health, and pay homage to that hope through special diets, supplements and gym memberships, luxuries available only to the more affluent. Many New Zealanders discover their health only when they become ill. For too many New Zealanders, poor health is a chronic condition, and addressing this requires a commitment both from the community and from the individual.  And as we are all well aware, poor heath inhibits participation in the paid workforce, in family and in community life.  It is our loss, as well as the loss of the invalid. 

Poor health can also be the result of active or unintended discrimination.  I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that 'of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.'

Here in New Zealand we face serious challenges in relation to our health. We are regularly saddened by reports of a diabetes epidemic, increased obesity, the spread of HIV/AIDS, and other preventable illnesses. We have new and frightening issues to face - rationing of health care, prevention of diseases, policies that suddenly are hampered by greater fear of the preventative than the illness, alternative providers peddling hope, finding the funding for ever changing technology and dampening demand from the wealthy to provide for the poor.  Globalisation of our health knowledge, cheap transport and television makes immortality seem possible to increasing numbers.  So how do we measure the health care fairly among our people.  How do we tell them that we will never have enough money to meet the expectations of our society.  How do we say 'your child can be made comfortable, but not even the spending of a fortune in health care will save him'?

I am conscious of the realities we face as our population ages and the birthrate declines.  And I am acutely aware of the challenges still faced by women, especially Maori and Pacific Island women, as they continue to try and balance raising families with earning a living. There are specific health issues facing Maori and Pacific Island communities, posing challenges that have ramifications in terms of employment and education as well as life expectancy. I am also aware of the challenges posed by those diseases that tend to cross demographics - mental illness for example. 

It is axiomatic that when we are healthier, we are better able to participate in both the public and private lives in our communities, that healthier communities are more productive, and children are better cared for. Continued investment in health promotion is essential for those communities, which will see the value of disease prevention through education, legislation, support and treatment services, refuges, community and corporate responsibility, and a sense of solidarity - a sense that the health of the community is the responsibility of that community.  These are all rights' issues - the right to the best care available, the right of equality of access - they are the rights both of the individual and of the community of which he or she is part.  Health care without consideration of rights, will not meet the needs of either.

Our community has ambitious goals for health care, and it is essential to aspire to achieve them. We have an obligation within the constraints of available technology, medication, money and skilled health workers, to do the best we can for everyone in the community regardless of age, status, sex, or race.  Human rights can and do provide a useful measure as we try to achieve these goals.  The battle for human rights is still being fought, but when used as a model there can be real successes, as there have been in relation to women's, gay and lesbian and indigenous people's rights.

Having spent much of my professional life observing the way in which luck and the concern and care of others for those less fortunate can make a real difference, I endorse and support the work you are doing. The organisations that make up the governing council and the membership of the Health Promotion Forum address many of the challenges facing this country and the world today.

Yours is not an easy task, and yet the passion, the experience and the expertise you bring to forums like this one, the organisations you work for and with, the communities you serve are a powerful testimony to both the needs and the triumphs of health promotion in New Zealand today and in the future. 

This symposium is in itself a good example of how this process should work. That you are here today speaks to your commitment. That there are so many groups represented here shows how the community can work together across sectors.

I will leave you with the words of Bertrand Russell, slightly modified, who reminds us that, "Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else."

I hope that you all enjoy the exchange of ideas over the coming day. Mostly I wish you all every success for the future. 

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.