Health workers really do make a huge difference to the lives of New Zealanders and the efforts of one such person have been officially recognised with a knighthood.

Mason Durie has been awarded this honour for his 25 years of service to Maori health, particularly in the realm of public health.

While be began his career in psychiatry, he shifted his focus to Maori health because of a desire to help people “take charge” of their own health.

His work has been instrumental in helping to improve Maori health services in New Zealand. At the beginning of his career there were no Maori health providers and now there are 270. Maori life expectancy has increased, as have immunisation rates.

Read more on Mason's increadible story in health.