Poverty, deprivation and poor access to healthcare are driving premature deaths in South Auckland, experts say.
Recently released figures show Counties Manukau has the worst rates of amenable mortality in the Auckland region.
Photo: 123RF
And recently released figures show it has the worst rates in the Auckland region. Amenable mortality is defined as the premature death of a person under 75 that could have potentially been avoided, if they had received effective and timely healthcare.
The most up-to-date figures released by Counties Manukau District Health Board under the Official Information Act are from 2018 and show 634 people died that year, compared to 418 for the Auckland health board in 2018 and 508 for Waitematā.
This equates to 111.8 deaths per 100,000 people in the Counties Manukau health board area, compared to 84.7 in Auckland and 82.6 in Waitematā. The 2018 populations served by each health board were Counties Manukau 567,000, Auckland 493,300 and Waitematā DHB 615,100. The most common causes of such deaths in south Auckland are coronary heart disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, suicide, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and breast cancer.
RNZ
The healthcare system has been labeled unacceptably racist , with Pasifika suffering the worst health inequities. Epidemiologist Dr Alistair Woodward said deprivation and poverty were the two main drivers behind the high level of premature deaths in Counties Manukau. He said people in poverty are often living in substandard housing and have lower incomes, which contributes to poorer health outcomes and an increase in premature deaths.
Chris Bullen graduated MBChB from the University of Auckland and later trained in public health medicine, obtaining his MPH and PhD (community health). He has been Director of the National Institute for Health Innovation at the University of Auckland s School of Population Health for ten years where he leads research on a range of areas of public health priority.
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