NZ Population Health Congress declares commitment to action

NZ Population Health Congress declares commitment to action

The three organisations co-hosting the first ever NZ Population Health Congress, which concludes today in Auckland, have declared their commitment to work more closely together to address key issues in population health.

The declaration by the Health Promotion Forum, the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine and the Public Health Association identifies three priorities for action:

1. Giving children of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific nations the best start in life
2. Improving health and reducing health inequities
3. Urgently addressing climate change and planetary health.

Congress Governance Group Chair Dr Caroline McElnay said the declared commitment was important because the issues affecting the health of both our people and our planet are complex.

“It is beyond the ability of any one organisation, discipline or sector on its own to understand and respond to these complex issues. Renowned New Zealand Maori leader and academic Sir Mason Durie reminded us at the opening of our Congress that we need to work together, across sectors and communities, taking on board cultural advice, if we want to make difference’, she said. “And that is what the declaration commits us to doing.”

She said all three organisations agree about the huge importance of addressing the drivers that lead to differences in health between Maori and Pacific peoples and other New Zealanders.

“Everyone wants happy, healthy, well-housed and well-educated children, nieces and nephews. But some families face greater challenges than others to have those things,” Dr McElnay says. “Addressing and reducing those inequities deserves our collective action.”

ENDS

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