Oceania

This chapter aligns with UN SDG 4 and 10 and the Māori’s continuous struggle to teach and center their own history despite having their pasts displaced in the education system by British history which dismissed local Indigenous pasts as unreliable myths and “pre-history.” Māori have resisted this “mis-education” for more than a century, fighting to reclaim the past on their own terms. This essay reflects on the enduring struggle that eventually led to the reset, and ongoing skepticism, of the National History curriculum in Aotearoa for all schools from 2023.

Experience of domestic violence has been suggested as a risk factor for diabetes. Longitudinal data from 5782 Australian women over 20 years were analysed. Childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence predicted subsequent diabetes. The association was only partly attenuated when obesity was taken into account. Awareness of a history of abuse may help in the management of obesity and diabetes in women.

This study developed an Older Persons' Index of Multiple Deprivation (OPIMD) specifically for New Zealanders aged 65 and over by combining 22 indicators across six deprivation domains to create an individual-level measure. Validated using smoking data and mapped geographically, the OPIMD offers a tailored tool to better inform resource allocation and policy decisions for the older population, with further research needed to explore its links to health and social outcomes.

Local actions have been considered as an important path for effective climate actions, but the extent to which community-level plastic waste elimination actions can be effective in coastal regions are unclear. This article leverage a nation-wide case study in Australia to show that community-level plastic pollution reduction actions can result in large benefits, regardless whether the plastic pollution was originated from the community or not.