Child Health

The close collaboration of child health experts working across the South Island is helping to deliver better, more efficient health services for children, young people and their families in Te Waipounamu. The South Island Alliance Child Health team is driving initiatives designed to ensure children and their families can easily access the best services possible, in a timely way, to improve their overall health and wellbeing.

Key focus areas include:

• Improving access to Child Health Services and promoting equitable outcomes for all children of the South Island.
• Quality Improvement Programmes including; Child Protection, E-Growth Charts and Childhood/Adolescent Diabetes.
• Te Pa Harakeke | Nurturing Care in the First 1000 days, the fundamental importance of the infant and whānau relationship.
• Child Development Services, early intervention services improvement project.
• Well Child Tamariki Ora Quality Improvement project.
• SUDI Prevention Programme co-ordination.

Taken together, this work is set to contribute to the New Zealand goal of making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child. Combined the work will improved outcomes in many measures of child health and wellbeing, including reducing unnecessary admissions to hospital, improved access to child health services, and reducing health disparities.

The Child Health team is a collaborative group focussed on improving the health outcomes of children and young people of Te Waipounamu. Members are child health specialists and experts from across the health sector and community who undertake a South Island regionally focussed work programme. The Child Health Alliance also hosts several working and steering groups consisting of subject matter experts to address specific area of focus.

E Hara tāku toa I te toa takitahi, he toa takitin | My strength is not as an individual but as a collective