Work Programme

Child Health and Wellbeing

The Public Health Advisory Committee’s (PHAC) child health and wellbeing project is currently considering factors that influence the health of young children. It is part of a series of projects on the wider determinants of health.

It is well established that social, economic, cultural and environmental factors impact on a child’s pathway into adulthood. These factors, or determinants of health, have a strong influence on the health outcomes and life chances for children.

It is clear that there is considerable diversity and disparity in health and wellbeing outcomes for New Zealand children. Overall, children who live in Maori, Pasifika and low-income families fare much worse compared with other New Zealand children.

The PHAC considers that the health outcomes for all New Zealand children should be the best possible, and that this is not the reality for many children. In particular it is recognises that:

• children have a right to the resources, experiences and opportunities necessary to achieve their optimal well-being and health status
• positive health and life outcomes for children increase their likelihood of successful participation throughout their young and adult years
• the first years of life are of critical importance in determining health and life outcomes that endure across the life course.

In recent years there have been overall improvements in some areas such as infant mortality and early childhood attendance. In others there has been overall decline, for instance in sport and active leisure participation rates (Ministry of Development 2004). For some specific groups of children, life has got more difficult. For instance between 2000-2004, intensity of hardship increased for children living in the poorest households (Ministry of Social Development 2004).

There are a number of health indicators that show worse outcomes for some groups of children compared with others. For instance:

• Maori infants have higher infant mortality rates compared with the infant mortality rates for the total population (Ministry of Health Annual Report 2005/06)
• Infants in the most deprived areas of New Zealand have higher infant mortality rates compared to the least deprived areas (Ministry of Social Development 2004)
• Pasifika and Maori school entrants have high levels of hearing failure compared with other New Zealand children (Ministry of Social Development 2004)
• Maori and Pasifika children have higher rates of avoidable hospitalisation than other New Zealand children (Children’s Commissioner 2006)
• At age five, Maori and Pasifika children have a higher incidence of filled or missing teeth compared with other New Zealand children (Ministry of Health 2004).

These figures indicate that there are significant disparities in health outcomes for children. The PHAC is looking at ways that will contribute to the reduction of such health inequalities, as well as supporting overall improvements for all New Zealand children.