Pūtahi Manawa / Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa has an ambitious goal - to close the inequity gaps in heart health. Researchers in this Centre of Research Excellence explain the gaps that exist and how they plan to address them.

Cardiovascular diseases - disorders of the heart and blood vessels - are the leading cause of death globally. In Aotearoa, alongside cancer and respiratory diseases, they are one of the leading causes.

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Cardiovascular diseases are also responsible for a large portion of the difference in life expectancy between Māori and non-Māori and Pacific and non-Pacific people.

Life expectancy is a term used for the average period that a person might expect to live. In Aotearoa there is a difference in life expectancy of about seven years between Māori and non-Māori, and about five years between Pacific and non-Pacific.

A Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) is aiming to address these, and other, heart health inequities. Pūtahi Manawa / Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa is one of ten CoREs, whose funding began in July 2021, and will run until December 2028.

Pūtahi Manawa have set ambitious goals - the Centre aims to address heart health research and health-care gaps that affect Māori, Pacific peoples, women, and rural communities. To do this, it will need to be 'business not as usual' says co-director Dr. Anna Rolleston. That is, a new way of doing research - working with communities to research what is important to them, and within their world view.

While based in the University of Auckland, as a CoRE, Pūtahi Manawa has partnerships with other Universities and groups. Researchers can apply for funding and support if their plans fit with the Centre's goals and values.

One of the partners in the CoRE is the University of Otago's Christchurch Heart Institute. As part of her work in Christchurch Dr. Allamanda Faatoese is investigating the risk factors for cardiovascular disease among Māori and Pacific people. Allamanda has also been learning from these communities about the barriers to them participating in research.

In the University of Auckland, Dr. Anna Ponnampalam has been investigating the intergenerational heart health impacts that can result from pregnancy complications. Anna has focused on gestational diabetes - when the person develops diabetes during their pregnancy. While gestational diabetes generally resolves after pregnancy, it leaves both the pregnant person and their baby at greater risk for developing diabetes and heart disease later in life…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details