The Whanganui Regional Health Research Collaborative has been developed as part of the response to health disparities in the region. It is the result of health and research organisations working together to form a collaborative that will focus on equity-based health research. We are focusing on health disparities because differences in health status are unfair and unjust, and because they are also the result of differential access to the resources necessary for people to lead healthy lives. Research can help us know which initiatives are most helpful to address health inequity and test out approaches that will help with changes the way the health system responds to differences in health for different groups.

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