Tell me about that.

That was actually a really shocking statistic to me as well.

Seven times more for Pacific people to be hospitalized with bronchiectasis is, is something that we sh- cannot be stand, uh, just standing aside and, and, you know, we need to be taking notice of that.

It's interesting actually, 'cause even in the, in the wealthiest areas, Pacific respiratory outcomes are worse than for others.

So even in, in the most socioeconomic deprived groups, you know, Pacific people still, still fare worse.

So, you know, with these bronchiectasis results, um, what is it? That's basically when you have a lot of scarring or repeat infections in the lungs, especially, you know, our little ones, then it can result into something more chronic, which is this bronchiectasis.

Uh, and to see those rates being so high, seven times, is, yeah, something we need to be taking notice of.

Why is this? What do you think is driving this disproportionate burden on Pacific communities?

That's a huge increase.

The rates have increased dramatically between '24 and '25.

For Pacific children, 3.7 times higher than for non-Pacific.

Māori children, of course, also higher at over two and a half times higher for childhood bronchiolitis.

So once again, you know, we've got to make sure that the vaccination programs, flu vaccines, that message is getting out, out into the community in a way that works for the people who need it, and the same goes for, you know, our call for the RSV vaccine.

We know that that's a huge issue, especially in places like Counties Manukau.

We've got to get the RSV vaccine funded for our wee babies and our infants, um, and ready in time April next year so we can prevent hospitalizations with RSV, which leads on to other things like bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

Now, we are in election season at the moment, so if you could ask the next New Zealand government to prioritize two or three actions to improve respiratory health outcomes here in New Zealand, what would they be?

Can you talk us through that?

Yeah, so for the, for the lung cancer, I mean, we know that, you know, it affects, m- uh, Māori much more and that comes, of course, from a, a strong background of, uh, big tobacco and smoking.

Uh, we know that for, um, for lung cancer that we've got almost, uh, 2,000 deaths where, where, um, that occurred in 2022.

And, you know, the thing is that we have to actually get in and invest in the lung cancer screening program.

It was great news from the government to talk about the four-year pilot that's gonna be implemented.

Uh, but really, you know, this is an effective way to save lives, uh, almost 2,000 lives a year, uh, by just getting on and, and doing it.

And we know that Australia and other countries around the world have lung cancer screening programs, so-

And what about vaccinations?

Can you talk us through that?

Yeah, so for the lung cancer, I mean, we know that it affects Maori much more, and that comes, of course, from a strong background of big tobacco and smoking.

We know that for lung cancer that you've got almost 2,000 deaths that occurred in 2022.

And, you know, the thing is that we have to actually get in and invest in the lung cancer screening programme.

It was great news from the government to talk about the four-year pilot that's going to be implemented soon.

But really, this is an effective way to save lives, almost 2,000 lives a year, by just getting on and doing it.

And we know that Australia and other countries around the world have lung cancer screening programs.

what about vaccinations?

Yeah.

That's exactly right.

And it can differ between men and women as well.

It really is if there's breathlessness and ongoing tiredness.

Obviously, if there's chest pain, then we say for people to ring, you know, 111.

We recently did raise attention to that because of all of the press around the emergency departments being overrun with flu etc we found that there were people who actually were reluctant to call the ambulance when they were having um heart issues and chest pain and delaying things so you know as our voice as the foundation we we put out to a press release talking about don't delay if you are having you know chest pain make sure that you are calling 111 um don't don't delay it hard as muscle so it can depend on um On the person as well, as I said, between women, they may have different symptoms of pain running down their arm or in their chest or even down aching in the jaw.

But, you know, I think that people just need to really listen to their bodies.

Looking across both, I guess, heart health and respiratory health in New Zealand, where are the biggest gaps or inequities and what changes would you most like to make?

Yes

... vaping and, you know, the effect on our youth.

Uh, and things like vaping and smoking affect both the heart and lungs, so obviously that's an area that we've been doing a lot of work in, and there's a lot of crossover between different areas as well, things like COPD, heart failure.

It all made sense.

Uh, and then the fact that we bring out the, uh, Respiratory Impact Report, and that's a report that really is the sort of state of the nation on the impact of respiratory disease, what areas we need to focus on, um, and also what diseases in the respiratory space.

It shows us what's happening around the country and where we, we really need to be looking at improving things, uh, but also where things are doing well, and hopefully we can help other regions to, uh, look at why they're doing well.

So we have that report, which as I said, we've, we've done over the last twenty years, and of course, we produced the Cardiac Impact Report last year.

So what is it you most hope to achieve?

So will more babies potentially die because of RSV or associated conditions this winter because we've dropped the ball on this?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, this has been, our understanding is that this was first put to MedSafe way back in, well, 24, 2024.

So, you know, why is it taking so long to get this assessed? We know that kids are going to be hospitalised this winter now because we've missed that window of getting this vaccine available to them.

And that's going to put a huge burden on our hospital system, but also for parents.

There's numerous studies showing that for parents whose children are hospitalised with RSV, a third are taking up to a week off.

Many are taking two weeks off.

Why is it that this drug in particular should supersede or trump all those other medications that might be out there?