The History of the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service

In the early 2000s the Paediatric Society of New Zealand began to advocate for a single national entity to select, collate and disseminate accurate information on the health of children and young people in New Zealand. Concern initially arose as the result of anecdotal reports regarding the fragmented nature of child and youth health information and in particular, the difficulty in obtaining accurate information at a District Health Board (DHB) level.

In 2004 the Paediatric Society undertook a scoping exercise to determine whether a national child and youth epidemiology service would be feasible and by 2005 was providing annual child and youth health reports to around half of New Zealand’s DHBs. Over time this work has grown, with over two thirds of DHBs in New Zealand now receiving annual child and youth health reports (many of which can be viewed on their websites).

Current National Reports

The New Zealand Child and Youth Health Indicator Project

As the work of the Epidemiology Service grew, it became apparent that a more formal health monitoring framework would be required, which took into account both the issues those working in the health sector felt were important to child and youth health, as well as the chains of causality linking them to the underlying socioeconomic and cultural determinants of health.

In 2006 the New Zealand Child and Youth Health Indicator Project was funded as a result of a contract between the Ministry of Health and the Paediatric Society of New Zealand. It resulted in two reports:

1. Monitoring the Health of New Zealand Children and Young People: Literature Review and Indicator Framework Development. This report reviews New Zealand’s recent approaches to monitoring child and youth health and highlights the clear need for a more coordinated approach in this area, as well as for a comprehensive framework which assists those working in the health sector to consider all of the issues which need to be taken into account when planning services and strategies to improve the health of children and young people. The report also provides a detailed description of the methodology used to develop the New Zealand Child and Youth Indicator Framework, upon which the Indicator Handbook is based.

2. The New Zealand Child and Youth Indicator Framework: Usage Guide and Indicator Handbook. This report provides an overview of the monitoring framework developed as a result of this project and considers how it might be used to achieve health gains for New

Zealand’s children and young people. It also serves as a catalogue of the indicators in the New Zealand Child and Youth Indicator Framework. For each indicator a formal definition is provided, along with information on the data sources used, the quality of these data sources and any implications this may have for the interpretation of the indicator. The public health relevance of each indicator is also briefly discussed, before an analysis of its current distribution by age, ethnicity, and NZ Deprivation Index decile is provided. Thus in addition to serving as a technical document, the Handbook also provides a comprehensive overview of the current health of children and young people in New Zealand.

The Health of Pacific Children and Young People in New Zealand

One of the concerning themes emerging from the Indicator Handbook was the large disparities in health status experienced by Pacific children and young people in New Zealand. Thus during 2007 the Ministry of Health commissioned an additional report on the Health of Pacific Children and Young People in New Zealand, which adapted the templates used in the Indicator Handbook, to focus specifically on the health of Pacific children and young people. Key features of this report include a series of Viewpoints, written by Pacific academics and heath professionals, who each consider how the health sector might better respond to the health needs of Pacific children and young people. Additional indicators (e.g. Pacific Language Retention, Religious Affiliation) of relevance to Pacific children and young people have also been added, and more detailed analyses by Pacific Island group have been undertaken for many indicators.

Monitoring the Health of New Zealand Children and Young People

The Health of Pacific Children and Young People in New Zealand