Executive Director
Contact: Sione@hauora.co.nz
Ph (09) 300 3733
Skype: sione.tuitahi.hpf
Sione Tu’itahi is the Executive Director of the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Runanga Whakapiki Ake I Te Hauora o Aotearoa. An educator, author and health promotion professional, his areas of interest in health promotion include determinants of health, human rights, community development, public policy, and workforce development.
Sione was the Vice President (2013-2019) of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) for the South West Pacific Region. He is a member of the Global Executive Board of IUHPE, and its Vice-President for Communications, 2019-2022. IUHPE is an umbrella organisation for health promotion professionals and institutions throughout the world.
Sione joined the forum in 2005 after six years as Pacific Manager at the Auckland Regional Public Health Service. He has also taught at a number of tertiary educational institutions. For more than 10 years he led the building of Pacific capacity at Massey University. A former journalist and broadcaster, Sione is the author of a number of books, academic papers, and children’s stories. As a voluntary community worker, he is a member of several national advisory groups in the education, health and community sectors.
Kia orana tatou katoatoa. Mark Simiona joined the Otara Health Charitable Trust in September 2012. He has a National Certificate in Public Sector Services (Leadership Development – Middle Management) and a National Certificate in First Line Management and worked for 2 years with the Salvation Army as a Family Store Manager and 14 years working with the Ministry of Social Development for Work and Income as a senior Service Centre Manager. Mark brings a variety of skills and knowledge including his strengths in leadership, people management, technical aptitude and staff development. Born in Hamilton, New Zealand he is from the beautiful island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. He is married with four children and two grandchildren.
Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa ki te tonga
A background in nursing last century with a nearly 20 year commitment to caring for babies in the neo natal unit of Palmerston North Hospital, Fay has also worked in Whānau Ora including supporting teenagers having baby’s for her Te Runanga o Raukawa, followed by quit coaching in the Quit for our Kid programme, Quit Smoking Services and latterly Te Ohu Auahi Mutunga, a collective of Iwi and Māori providers in the MidCentral DHB region. During this period she also worked as a health promoter in the MidCentral Community Paediatric Team and completed a research project with Te Whare Rapuora enquiring as to why Māori do not attend outpatient clinic appointments at Palmerston North Hospital at a rate equivalent to that of non-Māori. Currently she is with Hāpai Te Hauora in their National SUDI Prevention Coordination Service travelling between her home in Palmerston North, office in Henderson, Auckland and where ever the need takes her. A mother of four and kuia to six, Fay is currently on the Netball Central Zone Board (home of the Pulse netball team), is a member of her marae (Ngatokowaru) committee, her hapū of Ngāti Pareraukawa representative on the Raukawa District Māori Council and chair of Te Rau o te Aroha – 28 th Māori Battalion Memorial Hall committee.
Tēnā Koutou e te whānau He uri no Ngāti Hineuru, Tuhourangi, Taranaki, Ngati Kahungunu me he Kuki Arani.
Te Aroha is a passionate, innovative and community driven young Wahine Maori. A mama to three beautiful tamariki, she has been raised in Maraenui, Napier since moving here from Australia with her whanau as a child. She has strong community connections in health and social services, and her strength is in engagement for her whānau, hapū an iwi. She is a member of the Health Improvement and Equity Directorate at the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, as a Tuai Kopu Programme Coordinator with a focus on equitable access for maternal women accessing health and social services during pregnancy. Eager to strengthen her skills in governance and strategic thinking she approaches each meeting with an open mind and a fresh approach so that a positive difference can be achieved.
I am a Pākehā New Zealander descended from Irish, Welsh and English immigrants in the late 1880s. I started my health promotion career in the mid 1980s, first as a sexual health educator, and then as a health promoter in the equivalent of the DHBs. I moved into the academic world in the early 2000s with the express desire to share my knowledge and skills with the next generation of health promoters. I have been a public health academic in the Dental School at the University of Otago, and at Oxford Brookes University. Currently I am a health promotion academic at the University of Otago. I am really interested in best practice in health promotion and in bringing evaluation into everyday practice.
Sharon is the Health Improvement Manager at Toi Te Ora Public health Unit for the Bay of Plenty and Lakes District Health Boards. Sharon has expertise in population health, health promotion, policy development, communication, organisational development and management.
She is passionate about seeing every child reach their potential, and having studied both education and public health, understands the importance that partnerships between health, schools and communities play in achieving this. Sharon has three children aged 21, 16 and 15 years.
“A healthy community is a wealthy community.”
Richard affiliates to nga iwi o Waitaha and Ngaitahu. He brings over 12 years national experience in various roles working with the RNZAF, Department of Maori Affairs, Internal Affairs, Maori Women’s Welfare League, Like Minds Like Mine to name just a few. He has been with the Health Promotion Forum of NZ for a number of years at a governance level.
At a regional and local level, the Ven. Wallace is the Anglican Church Bishop o Te Wai Pounamu, Trustee of Westcoast PHO, on the WCDHB Hospital Advisory Committee, Westcoast Marine Protection Forum, Executive of the Runanga o Makaawhio and other committees related to justice and health.
Executive Director
Contact: Sione@hauora.co.nz
Ph (09) 300 3733
Skype: sione.tuitahi.hpf
Sione Tu’itahi is the Executive Director of the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Runanga Whakapiki Ake I Te Hauora o Aotearoa. An educator, author and health promotion professional, his areas of interest in health promotion include determinants of health, human rights, community development, public policy, and workforce development.
Sione was the Vice President (2013-2019) of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) for the South West Pacific Region. He is a member of the Global Executive Board of IUHPE, and its Vice-President for Communications, 2019-2022. IUHPE is an umbrella organisation for health promotion professionals and institutions throughout the world.
Sione joined the forum in 2005 after six years as Pacific Manager at the Auckland Regional Public Health Service. He has also taught at a number of tertiary educational institutions. For more than 10 years he led the building of Pacific capacity at Massey University. A former journalist and broadcaster, Sione is the author of a number of books, academic papers, and children’s stories. As a voluntary community worker, he is a member of several national advisory groups in the education, health and community sectors.
Ko Te Maipi räua ko Tararua oku Maunga
Ko Wairaka räua ko Waiwiri oku Awa
Ko Takitimu räua ko Tainui oku Waka
Ko Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa räua
ko Nga Rakawa ki te Tonga oku Iwi
Ko Ngai Tumapuhia-a-rangi räua ko Ngāti Kikopiri toku Hāpū
Ko Hiwaru Kahu Paku oku matua
Ko Sue Taylor taku ingoa
Sue is a company director of T&T Consulting Limited. She has a background in training, facilitation and co-ordination primarily in Māori Tobacco Control and smoking cessation. Before moving into the tobacco sector she worked in AOD and Social Services. Her involvement with hāpu and iwi development is of paramount importance as is spending quality time with immediate and extended whānau, particularly mokopuna.
Sue lives in Horowhenua and favourite R&R is spending time at her marae at Riversdale Beach located on the Wairapapa coast.
Margot Nicholson has worked with the Health Promotion Forum since 2004 by providing legal and strategic advice to both the Executive Director and the Board. She works with a variety of not for profits and has a particular passion for working with great organisations and resolving challenges in a way that strengthens the organisation and its people.
She says “I love working with the Forum and sharing the skills and resources that I have. I believe in the work that they are doing and support them as much as I can. The commitment of the Executive Director, her team and the Board makes working with them a privilege.”
Contact Margot by email margot@nfpworks.co.nz or
by phone 09 303 2178 / 09 303 2178
The Academic Reference Group provides academic advice about key areas of HPF work and developments in the field of health promotion.
I am a Pākehā New Zealander descended from Irish, Welsh and English immigrants in the late 1880s. I started my health promotion career in the mid 1980s, first as a sexual health educator, and then as a health promoter in the equivalent of the DHBs.
I moved into the academic world in the early 2000s with the express desire to share my knowledge and skills with the next generation of health promoters. I have been a public health academic in the Dental School at the University of Otago, and at Oxford Brookes University. Currently I am a health promotion academic at the University of Otago. I am really interested in best practice in health promotion and in bringing evaluation into everyday practice.
Dr. Sari Andajani-Sutjahjo attained her PhD in Public Health, at the Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society (WHO Collaborating Centre), School of Population Health, the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral project was conducted in Indonesia examining the experiences of motherhood and determinants of women’s emotional wellbeing in early motherhood. She has been a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, the British Chevening Scholarship, the Delta Kappa Gamma Women Scholarship and the AusAID Scholarship. In the past 20 years, Sari has worked in a number of appointments including teaching and research, community health and development and health promotion with multi-disciplinary and international teams in Indonesia, USA, Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Currently she is a senior lecturer at the Department of Community Health Development, at AUT University. She is a Member of the Ka Mau Te Wero Board and has worked closely with Tamaki community in the past 4 years. Sari was one of the recipients of the Lottery Community Research Sector Grant (2010-2012) conducting Random Household Survey and Assets Mapping Project with the Tamaki urban community in Auckland. Findings of this research will be used to inform the next 5-year Strategic Plan of social and community development in Tamaki communities. She has published in a number of peer-review international journals including the Qualitative Health Research Journal, Reproductive Health Matters, and Culture, Psychiatry and Medicine, and The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology. Sari has particular interests in human rights and health promotion, international health, women’s health and emotional wellbeing, reproductive and sexual health and gender based violence.
Richard Egan is a senior lecturer in health promotion, based in the Cancer Society Social and Behavioural Research Unit, Department of Preventive & Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago. His background includes five years working as a health promoter / professional advisor in a Public Health Unit and five years secondary school teaching. Richard’s Master’s thesis examined spirituality in New Zealand state schools, his PhD thesis explored spirituality in end-of-life care and he has qualifications in theology, English literature, religious studies, and public health. Richard’s academic interests centre on supportive care in cancer, health promotion and the place of spirituality in health and well-being. Richard is a mixed methods researcher, with a particular focus on qualitative research. Richard is a past-president of the NZ Public Health Association.
Associate Professor Lian Wu (BMed, MHSc, PhD) is the Major Leader of Health Promotion (Unitec). He is also a visiting professor of Fudan University (Shanghai, China) and has 20 year research and teaching experience (University of Auckland) in respiratory diseases, disease prevention and public health. So far, he has published more than 25 journal articles and two books in health related fields. His researches were previously funded by HRC, AMRF, Lottery Health, Chinese Natural Fund etc.
Associate Professor Rachel Simon-Kumar teaches Health Promotion at the University of Auckland. She has previously held lecturing positions at the University of Waikato and Victoria University of Wellington and worked in policy research in Wellington. She has degrees in Psychology (Univ. of Kerala, India), Development Studies (JNU, New Delhi), and Women’s Studies/Public Policy (Univ. of Waikato). Her research interests include gender and policy, Third World development, reproductive health, ethnicity, and state-community engagement. She is currently co-editor of the Women’s Studies Journal of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Indigenous health gap – social determinants key
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Māori Health Promotion: five important facets for building the discipline
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Working with communities to participate in the submission process
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He Mara Kai (the food garden)
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TUHANZ (Treaty Understanding of Hauora in Aotearoa New Zealand)
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TUHA-NZ
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