Understanding Health Inequalities in Aotearoa
New Zealand

Edited by Kevin Dew and Anna Matheson

Key Points

• Wide-ranging discussion by community leaders and workers, policy-makers and implementers, epidemiologists, public health researchers, economists, sociologists, an historian and medical professionals
• Addresses the question how do health inequalities arise?
• Provides ways of understanding and resolving inequalities

Book

Quick-fix solutions to health inequalities are unlikely to be found in complex modern societies. Class or socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity and physical location all play their part in determining our chances of maintaining good health and securing good health care. This book uses a variety of approaches from different disciplines to explore the issues in four sections: Ethnic and Socio-economic Inequalities in Health, Understanding Inequalities, Intervention Strategies, and Intervention Experiences.

Contents

1 Health, justice and politics editors 2 What is driving the disparities? Bridget Robson, Te Ropu Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pomare 3 Socioeconomic inequalities in health Sarah Hill, Public Health, Otago/Wellington 4 Diversity and equity for Maori Chris Cunningham, Research Centre for Maori Health and Development, Massey 5 Politics of health care: An historical perspective Michael Belgrave, Social & Cultural Studies, Massey 6 Discourse, media and health in Aotearoa Tim McCreanor, Te Ropu Whariki, Massey 7 Does poverty affect health?
Brian Easton, independent economist 8 Child poverty and family incomes in New Zealand
Susan St John, Economics, Auckland 9 Health inequalities and need associated with rare diseases John Forman, NZ Organisation for Rare Disorders 10 Why are we weighting? Equity considerations in primary health care resource allocation Peter Crampton, Dean, and Jon Foley, Otago/Wellington 11 The promise of primary health care Julia Carr & Lee Tan, Capital & Coast District Health Board 12 Reducing health inequalities by improving housing
Philippa Howden-Chapman, Housing and Health Research Programme, and Sarah Bierre, Public Health, Otago/Wellington 13 Tools for health equity Louise Signal, Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit, Otago/Wellington 14 The Otara health story Olivia James, Otara Health Incorporated 15 Stories from people working with high-needs populations Win Bennett,
Eugene Ryder, Maude Governor, Kathy James, Maggie Simcox, Leanne Ormsby
Notes References Index

Review Quotes

'This edited book is a significant contribution to our knowledge about the social determinants of health inequalities and some of the strategies that have been designed to overcome them.'
– Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 2009, Vol. 4: 155-157 (Published June 3, 2009)

Editors

Kevin Dew is Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington. He is the author of Borderland Practices: Regulating Alternative Therapies in New Zealand (2003). With Peter Davis he has edited Health and Society in Aotearoa/New Zealand (2nd edn 2006) and with Allison Kirkman co-authored Sociology of Health in New Zealand (2002).
Anna Matheson is a PhD student in the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.

Public Health studies
paperback, 240 pp approx
ISBN 978 1 877372 59 9
$45.00 approx