95bFM: The Wire

Colonisation continues to deeply affect the Pacific, with the production of health inequities tied closely to the unequal power dynamics still inflicted on Pacific nations by external high-income countries.

A recent article by a group of women academics and health professionals based in Fiji, Tonga, Sāmoa, and Aotearoa New Zealand has called for a reimagining in how global health is approached in the Pacific.

This proposed shift would see greater sovereignty exercised by Pacific nations in research and health, and a pluralistic worldview reflecting Indigenous Pacific knowledge systems.

To understand the state of global health in the Pacific, the reimagining her group has proposed, and the role that Aotearoa New Zealand can play, Producer Theo spoke to Public Health Medicine Specialist Dr Sainimere Boladuadua.

This week on the Wednesday Wire...

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the Civil Defence Payment for disaster victims, the state of the economy, and Waitangi Day.

They then spoke to Professor of General Practice and Primary Care Bruce Arrol, on the changes being made to ADHD diagnosis and access to medical treatments.

Producer Theo spoke with the spokesperson for Ka Lāhui Hawai’i, Healani Sonoda-Pale, on the seventeen-member delegation to Waitangi from Hawai’i, and solidarity between Māori and Kanaka Maoli.

They then spoke to Public Health Medicine Specialist Dr Sainimere Boladuadua on the Pacific shift in global health she and her colleagues have proposed.

For over a decade, the rules regulating diagnoses and treatment options available for those with ADHD have been demanding with high costs and requiring access to specialists with long waitlists.

New changes will now see GPs able to diagnose and prescribe medication to those 18 and up.

To understand what these changes will mean, I spoke to Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at the University of Auckland Dr Bruce Arroll.

This week, political, cultural, and community leaders have been gathering in Waitangi to commemorate the signing of Te Tiriti. 

However, recent attacks on Te Tiriti, Te Reo Māori, and Te Ao Māori by the New Zealand coalition government are front of mind for many.

Ka Lāhui Hawai’i, a Kanaka Maoli initiative calling for self-determination and self-governance in Hawai’i, have sent a seventeen-member delegation to show solidarity with Māori.

To understand the demonstration of indigenous solidarity this delegation represents, as well as the ongoing colonial attacks on indigenous peoples across the Pacific, Producer Theo spoke to the spokesperson for Ka Lāhui Hawai’i, Healani Sonoda-Pale.

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Dr Cushla McGoverin chats with us about how light could be used as a painkiller, research on early signs of dementia, and the ‘mental trap’ that leads to indecision.

We are now more than a year into Donald Trump’s second term as president. Over the past twelve months, we’ve seen the United States flex its military muscles both within the Western Hemisphere and beyond, launching a military operation in Venezuela and capturing president Nicolas Maduro, making further threats to take over Greenland, and provoking Iran by sending a fleet of warships to the Persian Gulf.

Last year, President Trump even signed an executive order, renaming the ‘Department of Defence’ to the ‘Department of War’ on the basis that the former name was too “woke.”

This morning, Producer Toby spoke with University of Auckland professor Chris Ogden about the assertion of hard power in American diplomacy, and how this can be understood through the theory of ‘political realism.

Last week, communities around the world took part in the first annual ‘Reclaim the Economy’ week, calling on grassroots action to develop alternatives to existing economic systems that prioritise growth over people and the planet.

Wire Host Sara spoke to environmental activist and Director of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa Gareth Hughes about the meaning of ‘reclaiming the economy’ and the context behind this movement.

New Zealand has declined its's invitation to join US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace after saying it will give due consideration to the invitation. The Co-Convenor of human rights group Justice for Palestine, Samira Zaitoon, has welcomed the move, but has expressed concern over the government's wording around declining the invitation. 

She also talks about what the Board of Peace means for traditional global bodies like the UN, and what New Zealand can do in terms of policy-making on the issue. 

Auckland council is set to introduce congestion charging, a policy aimed at reducing emissions, reducing traffic, and generating revenue for other transport endeavours.

While the University of Auckland’s Hyesop Shin says congestion charging is important, he also says it needs to be accompanied by other policies to ensure the gains are not reversed.

Last week, Social Media Companies began to face a Jury Trial for the first time. The claims being made are that social media is addictive and harmful for young people’s mental health; and that this is by design.

While this unfolds, experts have pointed to significant links between this trial, and those faced by the Tobacco Industry. Similar arguments are being made, on both sides, and there are lessons that can be taken from the decades long fight to hold tobacco and smoking accountable for its health harms.

Monday Wire Producer Alex spoke to Senior Research Fellow in General Practice and Primary Care at the school of Population health at the University of Auckland, Dr Samantha Marsh, about these links, and what more we need to see about social media based harms domestically.