This report presents data and insights that demonstrate the worsening state and continued inequity of child health in New Zealand, and calls for concerted action that is grounded in robust evidence. 

It shows that hospital admissions remain unacceptably high across five major classes of health issues: respiratory conditions, rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, skin infections, dental disease, and mental health. These conditions were chosen because of their prevalence, the cost to the health system, the severity of disease for individual children, and the long-term consequences for children’s future health.

The report, developed in collaboration with the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at the University of Otago, details the alarming reality that Māori children, Pasifika children, and children living in areas with the greatest socioeconomic deprivation are disproportionately affected by key health concerns.

Key findings

• Respiratory conditions are the leading cause of acute hospitalisations for children, with infants under one year being particularly vulnerable.
• Pasifika children are 115 times more likely, and Māori children 46 times more likely, to be hospitalised with acute rheumatic fever compared to their European counterparts.
• Hospitalisations for mental health concerns or for intentional self-harm have increased exponentially since 2000.
• The rate of hospitalisations for Pasifika children with serious skin infections is three times that of children of European or other ethnic groups, and for tamariki Māori, it is almost twice the rate. 
• Nearly half of five-year-olds were not seen by the Community Oral Health Service in 2022, leading to high rates of tooth decay. Tamariki Māori and Pasifika children are disproportionately affected, especially in socioeconomically deprived areas.
• A fifth of young people report serious psychological distress, a proportion that has increased more than 300% over the past 12 years.