Health inequalities between ethnic groups persist but reducing

Ministry of Health reports show a reduction in inequalities between
ethnic groups in suicide rates, smoking rates and infant mortality
rates, director-general of health Dr Karen Poutasi said yesterday.

The Ministry of Health's annual report for 2004/05, was released
yesterday with the annual Health and Independence Report.

The reports reveal that initiatives such as low cost access to primary
health care and the meningococcal B immunisation programme are
expected to further reduce health disparities.

By September 22, over 2.5 million doses of the meningococcal vaccine
had been given. More than 960,000 children had been given the vaccine,
of whom more than 600,000 had completed the three-vaccine schedule.

The annual report is the ministry's key accountability document, while
the Health and Independence Report is the director-general's report on
the state of public health and focuses on the progress the health and
disability system is making toward strategic goals.

Key findings of the independence report include:

Research shows that acceptance of people with mental illness increased
between 1997 and 2004;

The Government spent on average $1959 per person on health in the 2003/04 year;

The number of patients waiting longer than six months for their first
specialist assessment has decreased slightly;

Smoking has dropped significantly over the past five years;

The percentage of diabetics enrolled in the national Get Checked
programme increased from 33 per cent in 2001 to 59 per cent in 2004;
and

Smoking among adults has declined from 24.5 per cent in 2001 to 23.4
percent in 2004. Cigarette consumption dropped by 26 per cent over the
five years to December 2004.

The annual report reiterates that health inequalities persist,
affecting mostly Maori and Pacific people and those economically
disadvantaged.

The suicide rate in 2002 of 10.7 per 100,000 is the lowest since 1985,
however the suicide rate continues to be higher for Maori than
non-Maori.

In 2002, there were 19.7 deaths per 100,000 for Maori males, compared
to 15.6 for non-Maori, and 5.9 deaths per 100,000 for Maori females
compared to 4.8 for non-Maori.

The infant mortality rate decreased from 22.8 deaths per 1000 live
births in 1961 to 5.6 deaths per 1000 live births in 2004 - lower than
that of the United States (7.0 in 2002).

In 1996 the infant mortality rate for Maori was 11.5 deaths per 1000
live births compared with 7.1 for the total population.

In 2004, the infant mortality rate had declined to 7.2 for Maori ,
with 7.1 for Pacific people.

The report says despite the low proportion of Maori and Pacific people
in the health workforce, the numbers employed are increasing overall.

In 1992, Maori made up just 3.7 per cent of nurses and midwives. By
2004 this had doubled to 7.5 per cent. Of Pacific people, there were
1.4 per cent in 1992 working in nursing and midwifery, and by 2004
this was 2.9 per cent.

In 2003, 2.7 per cent of medical practitioners were Maori, with most
practising GPs.

However the number of Maori health providers has grown from 20 in 1992
to 286 in 2005.

The annual report says the total net result of all District Health
Boards (DHBs) has substantially improved from 2001/02 to 2004/05, with
the net total deficit falling from $286.7 million to $15.2 million.

"There has been increased government funding over this time, but DHBs
have made significant efforts to operate within their funding," the
report says.

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