‘Prevention is working’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Tairawhiti is going strong in its sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) prevention despite a 30 percent increase in SUDI rates nationally.

Between 2013 and 2017, Ministry of Health statistics show 42 SUDI deaths a year nationally. In 2019 the rates rose to 52, and last year to 56.

Mokopuna Ora Safe Sleep Coordinator Kaniwa Kupenga-Tamarama said since 2019, Tairawhiti's SUDI rates had been falling but there was still a need for preventative measures for Maori whanau.

A $5 million a year national SUDI Prevention Programme was started in 2017 in a concerted effort to reduce the number of sudden infant deaths.

The programme is working well in Tairawhiti, says Mrs Kupenga-Tamarama.

The wahakura wananga (sleeping pod weaving workshops) programme, initiated in Tairawhiti, had helped reduce SUDI rates by 30 percent in 2019 around New Zealand.

“In Tairawhiti SUDI prevention is working — pepi pods are easily available and if mothers are facing hardship they can contact their midwives.”

Mrs Kupenga-Tamarama said although the programmes were working there needed to be a large-scale community-focused campaign to help promote smoke- free pregnancies.

“We need to treat pregnancy in women as tapu (sacred), which will help reduce the ‘bad mum' stigma.”

Mrs Kupenga-Tamarama said first-time mothers or mothers who have had a big gap between their pregnancies should book in with a midwife within 10 weeks of becoming pregnant.

“There are a lot of ways in which women can work with clinicians to prevent SUDI.

“One is by eating nutritional food. If they can't afford fresh produce they can garden in their own backyards, which is a proactive way to keep healthy.”

Mrs Kupenga-Tamarama said the government should look at increasing benefits for mothers facing hardship.

“Instead of putting them in motels which cost $100-plus a night, the government could look at placing them in homes which have been vacant for so long. I think it would be a more permanent and safer fix for their whanau and also save money.”