He pūtea whakatakanga

We will test novel co-designed approaches to ameliorate Sweet Pressure in high-risk communities.
Building on research opportunities developed during the Sweet Pressure IRM, including community-led initiatives, we propose to run a series of parallel projects to improve Sweet Pressure identification & management in Māori and Pacific communities.

Project 1: Identifying “sweet pressure” patient characteristics associated with cardiovascular risk prediction and treatment efficacy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Project 2: Complete the first-ever study of associations between inflammatory biomarkers, genetic parameters and cardiometabolic risk factors, comparing Māori and Pacific peoples with other ethnicities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Project 3: Evaluate continuous glucose monitoring as a tool to delay or reverse diabetes in a community setting.

Project 4: Validate, expand and disseminate our model of STEM education as a vector for facilitating lifestyle change in Pacific communities.

These complementary projects focus on developing and validating targeted, personalised lifestyle interventions for Sweet Pressure, leveraging our team's expertise in epidemiology, biomarkers/genetics, continuous glucose monitoring, and community-based lifestyle (nutrition and education) interventions.

We will use holistic breathing manipulations to access the cardiovascular system in those with elevated anxiety at risk of developing CVD, using Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) of the breath (te hā) to improve Hauora. While various breathwork techniques can effectively reduce anxiety22, we will specifically test their efficacy in improving cardiovascular health indicators. We hypothesise that breathing training will be effective relieving anxiety and reinstating physiological autonomic balance.

Aims

1. Investigate early indicators of compromised cardiovascular function with elevated anxiety.
2. Assess the ability of non-invasive, accessible autonomic-focussed breathing interventions to simultaneously improve heart and mental health parameters over the course of a 12-week programme.

This project aims to strengthen local coordination of public-health interventions and active surveillance systems so that real-time data directly guide prevention efforts, enabling more targeted and equitable interventions for Pacific communities. By co-designing culturally grounded approaches to sore-throat management, access, referral, and follow-up with Pacific providers and communities, including the Pacific Health Service Hutt Valley (PHSHV) - the project connects national public-health guidelines with their local implementation to make the system function as a coordinated whole. 

It will evaluate how the 2024 Communicable Disease Manual and 2024 Heart Foundation ARF/RHD guidelines are being implemented in the Hutt Valley and how embedding these national standards within coordinated local systems, supported by linked public health, primary and community care, and hospital data, evaluation, can improve effectiveness and consistency compared with top-down national delivery models. Strengthened local–national feedback loops will enhance programme accountability and inform equitable resource allocation.

Pacific leadership is central throughout implementation, ensuring that interventions are culturally appropriate, community-driven, and sustainable. The project will also build Pacific workforce capacity in health-system coordination, data literacy, and evaluation. It will help PHSHV transition from an ad-hoc safety-net role to a more established leadership role in both providing and coordinating ARF prevention across the Hutt Valley. The resulting model will provide a tested, scalable framework for implementing national ARF prevention strategies in other high-risk regions across Aotearoa New Zealand.

This project will support three people through their doctoral studies.

Ko tēnei whakatakanga, kua whakapū nā runga i te otinga o tō tātou taiao, ki te kimikimi i te tūwheratanga o te mana o ngā āhuatanga taketake ki te mōhio me te pāhekoheko tō tātou taiao mo te mana taurite o te hauora manawa. Tuatahi ake, te hauora manawa me te kaupapa ki te aukati me te whakahaerenga e whakaaroarotia te rangatiratanga o te horopaki ahurea, ka whakatuanui i ngā uaratanga, ngā mātauranga me ngā pūnaha tuauru. Ko ēnei tirohanga whānui e hāngai ki ngā tāngata me tā rātou hauora hei tangata takitahi kua motuhake nei i te taiao whānui. Tuarua, ka whakatairitea, e ai ki Te Ao Māori, no te taiao mātou - engari kua kino nei mātou ki taua āhuatanga. Ko te tukunga iho o tēnei whakateka mo ēnei taunakitanga taiao o te hauora manawa, kua raru katoatia mo ngai Māori me ngā iwi o Te Moana-Nui-Ā-Kiwa me ngā uri e haere mai ana. Ka puta mai te rīrā o tēnei kaupapa IRM me ngā mātauranga- te ariā pāpori, Te Ao Māori (mā te tīwaiwaka) me te physiology (homeostasis and adaptation) ki te whakawā me pēhea te whakawhāiti ki ngā āhuatanga kia aukatihia te taiao mutunga kore cardiotoxic. Nō reira, ka whakawhanake ake i ngā autaia mo te anamata o ngā uri whakaheke me te mana taurite o te hauora manawa.