Working together to ensure all children in the Midland region have the same access to high-quality healthcare
Child health is a priority for all New Zealanders. There are large, avoidable and unjust differences in child health, and it will require a considerable and collaborative effort to realise a radical improvement in wellbeing for Māori children/tamariki in particular.
The Midland region Child Health Action Group is made up of representatives from the five Midland District Health Boards, the Ministry of Health, primary care, public health, and community-based providers, including Plunket.
It works to identify and initiate regional activities to improve child health and wellbeing outcomes. The Child Health Action Group also provides advice, evidence-based best practice models of care and demographic analysis to inform and monitor developments for positive outcomes for children, their whānau and families in the Midland region. It does this by:
- collecting and using data to identify inequities and inform system change;
- understanding the needs of children, their families and whānau, including location (urban/rural), distance, ethnicity, deprivation and equity of access to services;
- identifying high priority clinical risk or service gaps; and
- promoting regional sharing of resources and innovation, and collaboration between health and social services.
You can find out more about the Child Health Action Group’s work by viewing the 2018/2019 Workplan.
Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy
New Zealand’s first Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy is due to be released in 2019. It is sponsored by the Prime Minister and will help shape the work of the Child Health Action Group in the Midland region. The strategy’s goal is for New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child or young person.