An Indication of New Zealanders' Health 2007

The Ministry of Health is pleased to announce the release of the report An Indication of New Zealanders' Health 2007.

The paper provides a snapshop of the health of the population, and An Indication of New Zealanders’ Health 2007 is the latest report in a series monitoring the health of the New Zealand population produced by Public Health Intelligence, the epidemiology group of the Ministry of Health.

The report has been developed to provide an easy-to-use collection of health data on key issues affecting the health status of New Zealanders. It provides a reference for national and regional policy makers and service planers to identify health issues of importance and to measure the outcomes of interventions.

The information presented in the report contains demographics, socioeconomic indicators, and health outcome and risk/protective factors for New Zealand and District Health Board (DHB) regions. The report features 71 different health and health-related indicators that highlight some of the key health issues for New Zealanders.

The indicators were chosen because they:

address the New Zealand Health Strategy priority population health objectives
focus on salient health issues
are responsive to change
are reliable and validly monitored

Some notable excerpts from the report include:
Approximately two-thirds of New Zealanders aged 15 years and over consumed the recommended three or more servings of vegetables per day, and about one-half consumed the recommended two or more servings of fruit per day (Ministry of Health 2003).
About half of New Zealand adults aged 15+ years were either overweight (34.0%) or obese (20.1%).
All cardiovascular disease mortality and ischaemic heart disease mortality rates as well as cancer registrations and mortality rates were significantly higher in males than in females.
The prevalence of diabetes (self-reported, doctor-diagnosed) was significantly lower in European/Other than in other ethnic groups.
Children at school Year 8 in fluoridated areas had significantly more caries-free teeth and fewer decayed, missing or filled teeth than those in non-fluoridated areas.

The full report can be found on the Ministry of Health's website at www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/an-indication-nz-health-2007