Inequalities in child health between tamariki Māori and non-Māori are largely preventable and unnecessary. An example is rheumatic fever, where tamariki Māori are 30 times more likely to contract the disease than non-Māori. Being ill as a child has a big impact on school attendance and outcomes, and it may cause lifelong disability or illness. There are high costs involved, for the health system, society and to whānau. This study aimed to estimate how much not doing anything to reduce child health inequities really costs us.

The researchers found large inequities in child health in Aotearoa. If Māori child deaths during 2003-2007 had occurred at the same rate as non-Māori, there would have been 67 fewer deaths of tamariki per year. Likewise, if rates of “avoidable” hospital admissions (those that could be prevented by primary care treatment) were the same, there would have been 3075 fewer Māori admissions per year.

However, if tamariki Māori had had the same rates of ACC claims, outpatient visits, lab and pharmaceutical claims and primary care visits as non-Māori children, there would have been many more visits by tamariki than there actually were. It seems that it costs the health sector less to admit acutely sick Māori children, than to prevent severe illness or death through ensuring equitable primary care access or effective population-based health promotion interventions.

Applying traditional economic methods to child health has many problems. Traditional approaches do not explicitly consider issues of equity, and many people find putting a monetary value on a child’s life repugnant. Also with the data available the researchers were unable to cost the lifelong impacts of inequities in illness in childhood, or other things such as the grief and suffering of whānau, and concluded more research is needed in this area.