Led by Professor Bev Lawton (Ngāti Porou), the Centre’s research drive is to eliminate preventable harm and death for women and children by creating more effective systems and processes of care. Current projects include He Korowai Manaaki, a study involving added care and services during pregnancy, and He Tapu te Whare Tangata, which investigates self-testing for the human papilloma virus to prevent cervical cancer.
The Centre was founded in 2005 by Bev, an international expert on women’s health and a distinguished fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. Staff transferred to Victoria University of Wellington from the University of Otago in September 2017, and the Centre is now part of the new Faculty of Health.
The dean of the Faculty, Professor Gregor Coster, says the idea of the endowment fund is to sustain and grow the work of the Centre, with its important focus on reducing health inequalities. The Centre has been successful in attracting research funding but with ambitions to widen its scope to train more researchers and students, grow the capacity of equity research, and increase its impact globally and locally, it needs sustainable funding.
“We are reaching out to the philanthropic community to support this important kaupapa,” says Gregor.
For more information about the endowment fund, contact senior development manager Patricia McGarr.