Poster Presentation Lancefield International Symposium for Streptococci and Streptococcal Diseases 2025

Rapua te mea ngaro ka tau: culturally responsive governance applied to vaccine development (#99)

Shannon Leilua 1 , Anneka Anderson 1 2 , Julie Bennett 3 , Rachel Webb 4 , Nikki Moreland 4
  1. National Hauora Coalition , Auckland, New Zealand
  2. Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Waipapa Taumata Rau/University of Auckland, Auckland, no, New Zealand
  3. Univerity of Otago , Wellington , New Zealan
  4. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Cultural responsiveness is a practice designed to achieve high-quality, equitable and culturally safe health care and health outcomes. Community leadership and partnership, particularly Indigenous, are critical in this approach.  This poster presentation will illustrate how a culturally responsive governance framework has been successfully applied in an Aotearoa New Zealand project. The project- Rapua te mea ngaro ka tau (Rapua)- is facilitating a Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) vaccine development. From its inception to its completion, Rapua has established Indigenous and Community Governance groups. These groups have provided cultural Governance at all levels from leadership to study recruitment and sample collection and storage. This oversight has ensured that Indigenous participation, leadership, rights and data sovereignty frameworks have been embedded in all aspects of the project to ensure cultural responsiveness.