Page 16 - Statement of Intent 2015/16

 the main cause of early death is cardiovascular disease followed by cancer
 one in five people in the ’Other’ ethnicity grouping are cigarette smokers, for Māori
one in two smoke and for Pacific people, one in three smoke
 Māori women continue to have the highest smoking prevalence
 higher percentages of Māori and Pacific children are overweight or obese, compared
to ‘Other’, but in all ethnic groups there has been a significant increase in overall
body weight
 cardiovascular disease mortality rates increased with increasingly low socio-
economic status among both Māori and non-Māori
 Māori are disproportionately represented in the most deprived areas and therefore at
higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared to non-Māori
 people with diabetes have double the risk of myocardial infarction, and between two
and eight times greater risk of heart failure, than people without diabetes
 avoidable deaths for cancer are higher in the Waikato than for New Zealand
 as a whole Māori deaths to cancer were highest among all ethnic groups aged 45-64
years in the Waikato
 Māori patients with diabetes were nine times more likely to have an admission for
renal disease than European with diabetes
 Māori were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at a mean age of 48 years, Indians at 49
years and Pacific people at 50 years compared with Europeans at 59 years
 age standardised rates of hospitalisation for respiratory infections in 2006 among
Māori and Pacific People (379.7 and 368.8 per 100,000 population respectively) were
almost twice as high as Other at 199.34 per 100,000 population
 dental caries (tooth decay) is one of the top five cause of preventable hospital
admissions for children
 Māori and Pacific children have a lower percentage of caries free teeth, and a higher
rate of missing and filled teeth
 the general pattern was for Māori to have the highest prevalence across all mental
health disorders, followed by Pacific people
1.5 Nature and Scope of Functions
We collaborate with other health and disability organisations (such as our primary care alliance partners), key stakeholders and our community to identify what health and disability services are needed and how best to use the funding we receive from Government. Through this collaboration, we aim to ensure that health and disability services are well coordinated and cover the full continuum of care, with the patient at the centre. We expect these collaborative partnerships to also allow the sharing of resources, reduction in duplication, variation and waste across the health system to achieve the best outcomes for our community. As a DHB we:
 plan in partnership with key stakeholders such as our primary care alliance partners, the strategic direction for health and disability services
 plan regional and national work in collaboration with the National Health Board and other DHBs
 fund the provision of the majority of the public health and disability services in our district, through the agreements we have with providers
 provide hospital and specialist services primarily for our population and also for people referred from other DHBs
 promote, protect and improve our population’s health and wellbeing through health promotion, health protection, health education and the provision of evidence-based public health initiatives
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