Household crowding
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- Nearly one in five (18.2%) children lived in crowded households in 2023.
- Household crowding rates for children were much higher among Pacific peoples (42.3%), followed by Māori children at 28.4%.
- Nearly 1 in 3 children in Tairāwhiti (30.8%) and Counties Manukau (29.8%) lived in crowded conditions.
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Damp dwellings
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- Slightly over one in four children (26.0%) lived in dwellings that were always or sometimes damp in 2023.
- Pacific children and Māori children had notably high rates of living in damp dwellings, at 41.8% and 38.4%, respectively.
- Tairāwhiti had the highest rate of children in damp homes (45.4%), followed by Northland (38.5%).
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Mouldy dwellings
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- Over one in five children (21.1%) lived in dwellings where mould larger than an A4 sheet was always or sometimes present in 2023.
- Māori and Pacific children had notably high rates of exposure to mould, at 37.6% and 31.1%, respectively.
- More than one in three children in Tairāwhiti district (36.2%) and Northland district (32.3%) lived in homes where mould larger than an A4 sheet was always or sometimes present.
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Second-hand smoke exposure |
- Around 21,000 children aged 0–14 years and 197,000 adults were exposed to second-hand smoke in the home in 2023/24.
- Exposure to second-hand smoke for children has decreased considerably from 5.1% in 2012/13 to 2.2% in 2023/24.
- Children living in the most deprived neighbourhoods (NZDep2018 quintile 5) were 2.39 times as likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke in the home than those in the least deprived areas.
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Maternal smoking |
- Maternal smoking rates at two weeks postnatal have decreased from 13.7% in 2009 to 7.3% in 2021.
- The gap in smoking rates between Māori mothers and other ethnic groups continues to decrease. Smoking rates among Māori mothers have declined from 32.2% in 2009 to 19.5% in 2021.
- Maternal smoking rates have dropped by more than 30% across most health districts between 2009 and 2021, particularly in Tairāwhiti.
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Asthma |
- In 2023/24, around 99,000 children aged 2–14 years were diagnosed with asthma and were currently taking asthma medication.
- There were 7533 hospitalisations in children aged 0–14 years in 2023, down from 7862 in 2022.
- Children under five years old continued to experience lower rates of asthma prevalence but higher hospitalisation rates, particularly among one-year-olds, compared to other age groups. In 2023, the hospitalisation rate for those aged 0–4 was 13 times higher than that of 10–14-year-olds.
- In 2023/24, Māori children aged 2–14 years experienced a higher prevalence of asthma compared to non-Māori children. In addition, Pacific children aged 0–14 years have consistently had higher hospitalisation rates than other children since 2001.
- Asthma prevalence and hospitalisation rates were higher in children living in the most deprived areas (NZDep 2018 quintile 5) than children living in the least deprived areas.
- Children living in main urban areas had higher hospitalisation rates than children living in rural areas in 2023.
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Lower respiratory tract infections |
- The number of LRTI hospitalisations among 0-4 year olds increased from 9415 in 2021 to 9968 in 2022.
- LRTI hospitalisations during winter returned to pre-COVID levels, but hospitalisations stayed high throughout the remainder of 2022, compared to 2019 levels.
- Infants (under one-year-old) continue to have the highest LRTI hospitalisation rates, but the rate for 1-year-olds (4546.8 per 100,000) was the highest recorded since 2001.
- Pacific children had three times the rate of LRTI hospitalisations as European/Other children in 2022.
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Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) |
- 46 babies died from SUDI in 2019, up from 37 deaths the previous year. There has been no improvement in SUDI rates since 2012.
- Pacific and Māori babies had five times the rate of SUDI as European/Other babies in 2015–19.
- Babies of younger mothers (younger than 25 years) had higher SUDI rates than babies born to mothers in older age groups.
- The SUDI rate for babies living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas (NZdep 2013 quintile 5) was more than seven times as high as babies in the least deprived areas (quintile 1).
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Meningococcal disease |
- The number of meningococcal notifications declined from 42 (4.4 per 100,000) in 2022 to 21 (2.2 per 100,000) in 2023, primarily due to a decrease in notifications among the under-5 age group.
- Meningococcal B continues to be the most dominant strain in children aged 0–14 years.
- Infants (under 1-year-old) have had the highest rate of meningococcal disease since 2001. In 2023, the rate of meningococcal disease in this age group was 36 times the rate among children aged 10–14 years.
- Māori and Pacific children had the rate of meningococcal disease than European/Other children. Māori children also represent the majority of cases across all age groups, particularly among infants.
- Children living in the most deprived areas (NZDep 2018 quintile 5) had three times the rate of meningococcal disease as children living in the least deprived areas (quintile 1).
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