Introduction: Recently, there has been a movement in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) for health institutions to adopt culturally responsive guidelines and processes when working with biological material from humans. However, human pathogen-based laboratory research often falls outside of the parameters of culturally informed and rights-based health research frameworks which generally only apply to human tissue samples. Use of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) pathogen isolates is important for disease surveillance and health research for a number of infections caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. This presentation draws on the findings from a Māori led qualitative study that captured community perceptions on the use of GAS pathogen isolates in research to inform culturally responsive guidelines and practices.
Method: Data was collected through online culturally tailored workshops (wānanga/fono) with Māori and Pacific participants in NZ. Each workshop explored community perspectives about the processes and protocols of stored isolates taken for diagnosis to be used for research purposes.
Result: 12 online wānanga or fono were held with different ethnic and age specific groups. In total 31 people participated in the workshops. Participants all supported the use of GAS isolate samples if there was informed consent undertaken and the isolate research contributed to improving health outcomes. Key themes were identified regarding the use of isolates centred around tino rangatiratanga (Indigenous sovereignty), mana motuhake (rights) and tikanga (cultural processes).
Conclusion: Findings from this study support the need for community informed guidelines for Streptococcus A isolate use for research in Aotearoa