TE ŌHANGA MAURI - PRIORITY #9 - SOLVE HEALTH BY FIXING OUR HOMES
The Entropy of Preventable Illness
In Taitokerau, we are battling "Third World" diseases like Rheumatic Fever that have been almost entirely wiped out in other developed countries. These illnesses are a form of "Body Entropy"—a state where the physical system of the human body is degraded by its environment. Rheumatic Fever permanently damages the heart, reducing a child's energy and potential for their entire life.
This crisis exists because of the "Housing Paradox" we discussed earlier. Cold, damp, and overcrowded houses strip heat from the body, weakening the immune system and allowing bacteria to take hold. The "entropy" of a broken house becomes the "entropy" of the child living inside it. We cannot fix our health stats while our whānau are living in environments that make them sick.
10 Steps to Whare Ora (Healthy Homes)
We can fix the soil of our health system by treating the home as a primary medical intervention with these actionable steps:
Direct Health Funding to Housing: Shift a portion of regional health budgets into home insulation and heating retrofits.
Prescribe a Warm Home: Allow doctors to "prescribe" housing repairs as a preventative treatment for at-risk children.
Deploy "Whare Ora" Kits: Roll out high-tech, healthy kit-set homes made from our own Northland timber.
Audit for Dampness: Launch a regional programme to identify and fix every cold, damp rental property in the North.
End Overcrowding: Use the solutions from Priority #2 to build more homes, reducing the spread of infectious diseases.
Use Local Energy for Heat: Link our homes to local solar and geothermal micro-grids to make heating affordable for every whānau.
Treat the Whānau, Not Just the Body: Move toward an "entangled" health model that looks at the whole family environment.
Support Community Health Workers: Empower local Māori health providers to lead the "Whare Ora" inspections and repairs.
Track Mauri, Not Just Disease: Use the Mauri Model to measure how much a warm home improves the cultural and social life of the family.
Focus on Prevention: Prioritise spending on "fixing the soil" (the home) rather than just treating the symptoms in a hospital.
Making It Happen
Key Stakeholders: Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora), local Iwi health providers, and Regional Councils.
Theoretical Minimum Time Frame: 3 to 5 years to see a massive drop in preventable hospital admissions through a focused housing-first health strategy.
Who benefits from things staying as they are?: The pharmaceutical industry and private health systems that profit from chronic, long-term illness.
Who benefits from this solution?: Our children who will grow up with strong hearts, our elders who can stay in their homes longer, and the entire health system which will save millions in emergency costs.
