The Ministry of Health’s Māori Health Insights team has produced the Māori Health Trends Report, including several subject-specific modules, to inform the Wai 2575 Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry (Wai 2575). The report shows changes of Māori health over the years 1990–2015.
Most of the data used for trend analysis of Māori and non-Māori in this report starts from 1996. This reporting period was chosen based on the availability of reliable data. Before this period, the quality of ethnicity data was not reliable and Māori tend to be undercounted due to inconsistent ethnicity classification on death registration, birth registration and census forms.
Changes to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) versions, disease classifications, data collections, and significant changes in socio-economic circumstances of Māori from 1984 to 1989, make time series comparisons prior to 1990s difficult.
The authors would like to acknowledge the Wai 2575 claimants for their input into the scope of the report and the external peer reviewers, in particular Bridget Robson, Director of Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare at the University of Otago, Wellington, and Andrew Sporle, Deputy Director of Healthier Lives National Science Challenge.