Publication date: 10 July 2022
This memo to the Director-General of Health sets out the Equity Impact Assessment (EIA) that was undertaken by the Ministry of Health on the three-phase Omicron public health strategy in the early stages of its implementation. The memo includes a summary of the EIA’s findings and the actions taken by the Ministry to address these findings, along with Ministry learnings.
To inform the EIA, the Ministry of Health undertook a series of hui with a wide range of groups working directly with and supporting priority populations in the ongoing COVID-19 response. Groups included community stakeholders, Tiriti o Waitangi partners, Pacific health leaders, clinicians, district health board kaimahi, Māori nurses, and lived experience groups including disabled people and their carers’, individuals with experience of mental health distress and/or addiction, their whānau, and support workers.