A partnership with 18 Bay of Plenty iwi aims to transform the health system for Māori.

The Māori Health Rūnanga of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board will launch Te Toi Ahorangi 2030 Toi Ora Strategy on October 9.

The health strategy affirms the BOP DHB's Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership with the 18 iwi in the Bay of Plenty with the goal to realise their collective aspirations for Toi Ora.

The rūnanga is made up of of 17 iwi governance representatives. Toi Ora is a local vision, determined by the eighteen iwi in 2007. This vision directly aligns with He Korowai Oranga, the Government's national Māori Health Strategy and its vision of Pae Ora - healthy, Māori futures.

'We stand on the foundation of all of those iwi leaders who have gone before us and their important work, from Ngā Pou Mana o Io to He Pou Oranga Tāngata Whenua, now realised in Te Toi Ahorangi,” says chairperson of the rūnanga Pouroto Ngaropo.

Te Toi Ahorangi will allow the BOPDHB to demonstrate an authentic Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership that values and invests in tāngata whenua aspirations to realise Toi Ora.

Toi Ora, the vision of Te Toi Ahorangi, includes five interconnected elements: Mauri Ora - flourishing individuals, Whānau Ora - flourishing families, Wai Ora - flourishing environments, Iwi Ora - flourishing iwi and Hapū Ora flourishing hapū.

A ten year strategy, Te Toi Ahorangi ensures that iwi and the BOP DHB are partnering for outcomes across sectors and ensuring that tāngata whenua determinants of wellbeing are addressed and invested in here in the BOP.

'We must uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Pou Oranga here in Te Moana a Toi so that tāngata whenua may once again flourish,” says BOPDHB chairperson Sally Webb.

Te Toi Ahorangi looks beyond the enduring inequities in Māori health to supporting the aspirations of whānau, hapū and iwi across the Bay of Plenty.