A New Zealand health academic says Western countries can learn a lot from the way Pacific communities approach health issues.
Associate professor at the University of Waikato, Dr Polly Atatoa-Carr, spoke at a recent health conference in the Cook Islands about indigenous research ethics.
Government ministries at the conference made commitments to learn how to approach indigenous data sovereignty issues in their research.
Dr Atatoa-Carr said there is a strong indigenous voice behind the health policies in the Cook Islands.
"Countries across the Pacific have a real strength in their ability to work on NCDs and they also have quite strong cross-sector relationships to talk about what policies and programmes might be effective."
