Health in New Zealand

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This essay discusses the determinants of health in New Zealand with a focus on maternity care in rural areas. The main determinants of health in New Zealand are the social, cultural and economic factors such as genetics, income, education, poverty, culture, occupation and housing. The second part of this essay goes on to describe how objectives of the New Zealand Health Strategy (NZHS) can have a positive impact on health care in New Zealand.
Dew and Matheson (2008) state that the disciplines of epidemiology and social epidemiology have progressively given more descriptions of health inequalities. They also state that epidemiology mainly focuses on how and from where infectious diseases spread, whereas social epidemiology looks at the patterning of health outcomes involved with social characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and income in order to find the causes of differences between these groups. Key determinants of maternity care in rural areas are education, income, a sense of control over life circumstances and access to health care services (Ministry of Health [MoH], 2000).
Full maternity care comprises of prenatal care, early pregnancy care, antenatal care, postnatal care and also full obstetric care (Preston & Miller, 2012). Midwives are the main providers of maternity services in rural areas, who work as either Lead Maternity Carers (LMCs), who provide maternity care for women from early pregnancy up to six weeks postnatal, or are employed by rural maternity hospitals, providing maternity care when women are in the hospital (Kyle & Aileone, 2013). There is an increasing number of expectant mothers who experience difficulties in finding a suitable LMC, especially in rural areas, as there is a shortage of both midwi...

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...). Mapping the rural midwifery workforce in New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.mmpo.org.nz
Ministry of Health. (2000). The New Zealand health strategy. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.
Ministry of Health. (2009). Guide to the national travel assistance (NTA) policy 2005. Retrieved from http://www.health.govt.nz
Ministry of Health. (2014). Pregnancy services. Retrieved from http://www.health.govt.nz
National Health Committee. (2010). Rural health: Challenges of distance; opportunities for innovation. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.
Power, S. (2009, June 15). Maternity services a top priority. Manawatu Standard. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz
Preston, H., & Miller, D. (2012). Final year medical students’ perception of maternity care in general practice. New Zealand Medical Journal, 125(1352). Retrieved from http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/

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