Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says healthy pregnancy and a safe birth are foundations for a good start to life. “With this in mind, the new health-led results and targets have a strong focus on improving outcomes for pregnant women and babies, and supporting kids to have a healthy childhood.” (See new target details below)
The Minister said immunisation and rheumatic fever prevention would continue to be focus areas with the 8 month old immunisation rates remaining one of the government’s health targets.
He said for a range of reasons Māori and Pacific families, and families in high deprivation areas, had poorer maternal and child health outcomes on average and the new target to have more women registered with a lead maternity career (usually a midwife) in their first trimester would help address this.
The second target of reducing child hospital admission rates would focus on respiratory, skin and dental conditions as well as head injuries. Coleman said the focus might initially lead to more children being diagnosed and hospitalised before early intervention prevented conditions worsening to the level requiring hospitalisation.To achieve the target the Ministry of Health was to work closely with DHBs and the wider health sector, As well as other Government agencies such as MSD, the MBIE and Housing NZ.
Ministry of Health statistics show that in the three years to June 2016 there were more than 35,000 children hospitalized with these conditions from the most deprived households compared to less than 10,000 from the least deprived households.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the Government had set a goal of reducing the rheumatic fever rate from 4 cases per 100,000 people to 1.4 cases per 100,000 people by mid-2017.
The rate hit a low of 2.4 cases per 100,000 people in mid-2015, but has since risen again to 3.4 cases per 100,000 people, said the Herald.
It also noted that Budget 2017 cut funding for rheumatic fever from $10 million a year to $5m a year.
The other previous target was to have 95 per cent of infants aged 8 months complete their primary course of immunisation on time. Since December 2014 the immunisation rate at age 8 months has remained steady at between 93 per cent and 94 per cent each quarter.
NEW BETTER PUBLIC SERVICE TARGETS
Result 2: Healthy mums and babies
Target:By 2021, 90 per cent of pregnant women are registered with a Lead Maternity Carer in the first trimester, with an interim target of 80 per cent by 2019, with equitable rates for all population groups.
Result 3: Keeping kids healthy
Target: By 2021, a 25 per cent reduction in hospital admission rates for a selected group of avoidable conditions in children aged 0 – 12 years, with an interim target of 15 per cent by 2019.
In addition to the key measures listed above the government will publicly report on the following supporting measures:
- babies who live in smoke-free households
- pregnant women immunised against whooping cough
- a breakdown of the different conditions under result 3 i.e dental, respiratory and skin conditions, and head injuries
- rates of rheumatic fever.
