Nga Kupu Oranga Healthy Messages: A health and safety resource for early childhood services

Summary

Kia ora koutou katoa, Talofa lava, Kia orana, Fakalofa lahi atu, Taloha ni, Ni sa bula vinaka, Talofa koutou, Malo e lelei,

Early childhood services play an essential role in the education, health and life of pre-school children. I hope that this resource will assist with this important role. It has been developed especially for early childhood services to provide information and advice about common illnesses and how to prevent them; the care of children with ongoing conditions such as asthma and diabetes; the Well Child–Tamariki Ora programme; food and nutrition; staff health; and safety issues likely to occur in any early childhood service.

It is a comprehensive, pertinent, reader friendly and useful resource. One of its major strengths is that a large amount of relevant information can now be found in the one place. Information has not been included which is produced by other agencies, such as information on child abuse and civil defence.

The resource is cross-referenced and contains contacts for accessing additional information and resources. For additional advice please contact public health nurses, health protection officers, medical officers of health and the public health service.

A wide range of topics are covered in the resource. Information on preventing the spread of infectious illnesses is particularly important for early childhood services in order to protect the health of the children in their care. Immunisation is also an essential measure to prevent the spread of diseases.

I would like to thank the many people who were involved in the development of this very worthwhile resource.

The General Manager
Public Health Group
Ministry of Health