Pacific Regional Team

The work conducted in the Pacific region stems from a set of contracts funded by New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). These contracts are managed and implemented by the Pacific Regional Health Development (PRHD) team of Counties Manukau Health (CM Health); these contracts include:

1. New Zealand Medical Treatment Scheme (NZMTS)
2. Samoa Health Partnership Programme (SHPP)

New Zealand Medical Treatment Scheme (NZMTS) is funded by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and covers five Pacific Island nations Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The NZMTS contract spans from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2022.

The NZMTS has two key objectives - “to deliver necessary services and, by delivering services locally wherever possible, to provide health support in a way that can help to strengthen local health services and grow local skills and capacity.”

The Samoa Health Partnership programme (SHPP) covers only Samoa and is a bilateral agreement with the country.  The SHPP key objective is to support the Samoa  Ministry of Health achieve its goal of “Samoan people are able to live healthy productive lives through the provision of overseas medical treatment and in country”.  The SHPP has evolved from the initial longstanding Institutional Linkage Programme which had focused on overseas patient referral and specialist visits, to include strengthening in-country capacity and services.

The Pacific Regional Team in Kalavata

Values

• Nurturing the “Va”, the Pacific principle of the sacred relational space between people.
• Respect for unique Pacific cultures, communities and within the Regional Pacific Team.
• Highest standards of health expertise and professionalism.
• Partner led development of health capability and systems. 
• Responsible, efficient and effective use of public resources.

Reflections on CM Health facilitating the NZMTS