Pharmac raising awareness of funding for medications for Māori and Pacific people with high-risk type 2 diabetes

A new campaign from Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac will raise awareness and encourage Māori and Pacific people with high-risk type 2 diabetes to access equity-funded medicines through their GP.

Kaumatua Phil Merritt

Makaia Carr

Pharmac’s new central values:

Whakarongo Listen

Tūhono Connect

Wānanga Learn together

Māia Courage

Kaitiakitanga Preserve, protect and shelter our future

Four well-known and respected Māori and Pacific personalities who either live with type 2 diabetes or have whānau members who have it will head the three-month campaign.

Kaumātua Phil Merritt, rugby league star Adam Blair, entrepreneur Makaia Carr, and playwright and filmmaker Aroha Awarau will all encourage whānau to visit their GP to see if this medicine is right for them.

Trevor Simpson, Chief Advisor Māori for Pharmac, says they have used a broad range of whānau to connect with multiple demographics to ensure the campaign reaches as many people affected by type 2 diabetes as possible.

‘We have been listening, and people with diabetes, their whānau, and health professionals have told us that there is a need for these medicines (Empagliflozin and Dulaglutide) to be funded to help manage the growing health problem of type 2 diabetes in Aotearoa,’ says Simpson.

A Pharmac first

This campaign is a first for Pharmac, not only in its specific reaching out to Māori and Pacific peoples, and its use of different marketing channels, but also in the way it indirectly addresses equity of access through policy.

The theme of the campaign is ‘You Are a Priority’.

With mortality rates for Māori with type 2 diabetes seven times higher than non-Māori, and the prediction that one in four Pacific people will have the disease in 20 years – this equity funding is there to make sure there is fairness in the health system. ‘There are no hoops to jump through. We’re making it easier for people to get their medication,’ says Simpson.

The list price for these medicines ranges from $60 to $115 a pack, but because they are now funded people will only pay $5 for their prescription.

Through this campaign, Pharmac hopes to increase awareness of these diabetes medicines and to develop a clearer understanding of how to further connect with Māori and Pacific communities about future medicines as they continue to address equity issues.

The campaign starts in early August and runs until October. It will appear on Māori TV, national newspapers, posters, digital ads, Zui panels and Facebook.