Environmental Health Indicators

AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND'S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: 2023

These are the findings from EHINZ’s surveillance of Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental health, during 2022-23.
All information below is linked to the respective reports or webpages.

	CLIMATE CHANGE	AIR QUALITY	INDOOR ENVIRONMENT	WATER QUALITY
ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS (What has changed)	Most years since 2010 had more hot and fewer cold days compared to the baseline. Extreme rainfall in 2022 affected the same regions as Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.	WHO air quality guidelines were exceeded at most stations monitoring nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in 2020.	Maternal smoking decreased over the past decade, with Māori rates down 10 percentage points. Census data is limited for heating, crowding and second-hand smoke exposure.	The percentage of New Zealanders with access to registered and/or fluoridated drinking water has not changed in the past decade.
EFFECTS ON HEALTH INDICATORS	Climate change may increase: Extreme weather events certain gastrointestinal diseases new exotic mosquitos establishing expansion of established mosquitos. Recent extreme weather affected the northern and central North Island, especially Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.	3,300 deaths were associated with human-made concentrations of NO₂ and PM_2.5 in 2016, with 2,227 linked to vehicles. The light vehicle fleet is growing and ageing with 4.5 million in 2021. New Zealand has 25 PM_2.5 and 12 NO₂ monitoring stations. There are also few stations monitoring CO and SO₂ levels. National reporting is limited by the few stations and restricted spatial coverage.	Health conditions related to poor indoor environments show extensive inequities for children. This domain consistently has the greatest inequities within the EHINZ program. Occupational lead absorption notification rates are high for Pacific peoples, males and those living in more deprived areas.	About 78% of New Zealanders on registered drinking-water supplies had access to water meeting all bacteriological, protozoal and chemical safety requirements. All monitored freshwater bathing sites in Gisborne, Taranaki, Nelson, and Southland regions received ‘poor’ grades from 2017 to 2022.
VULNERABLE POPULATIONS AND INEQUITIES (Who is most affected)	Māori, reliant on primary industries are concentrated in these regions. Climate change often impacts the socially vulnerable, ie. people more susceptible and/or less resilient.	Māori, Pacific, and children in more socioeconomically deprived areas have the highest medicated asthma and asthma hospitalisation rates. Asthma hospitalisations in children and childhood onset have been linked to NO₂.	Māori and Pacific children, and children in more socioeconomically deprived areas, had higher hospitalisation rates for asthma and LRTI and notifications for SUDI and meningococcal.	People living in rural areas and small communities were less likely to have drinking-water that met safety standards.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT	Childhood hospitalisations for asthma and LRTI halved from 2019 to 2020, but bounced back to pre-COVID-19 levels in 2021. Childhood meningococcal notifications, lead absorption notifications and melanoma registrations also declined from 2019 to 2020 and bounced back in 2021. Energy consumption declined in 2020 and remained at a similar level in 2021, while the vehicle fleet grew at a slower rate. Despite accessibility likely being associated with some of these declines, unmet needs for a GP due to lack of transport has decreased over the past decade.
DATA ISSUES	Delays in receiving data and its quality (eg, inaccurate, incomplete) continue to have a major effect on the surveillance of several indicators in 2022/23. The air quality and indoor environment sections above provide examples of a few of these issues.