Mental health in New Zealand

New Zealand’s healthcare system has undergone significant changes in recent times, among them being the establishment in 1993 of a purchaser/provider split and the specific attention given to the development of mental health services. Funding for mental health services (Fig. 1) increased from NZ$270 million in 1993/94 to NZ$866.6 million per annum in 2004/05, a real increase (adjusted for inflation) of 154% (Mental Health Commission, 2006). The bi-partisan political commitment sustaining this funding has had a major impact on the development of recovery-based and culturally specific models of care unrivalled by few countries in the world. However, recent reports (Mental Health Commission, 2006) indicate that, particularly with regard to access, much still remains to be done to address the mental health needs of New Zealanders. Open in a separate window Fig. 1 Real cumulative percentage increase in public funding for mental health services in New Zealand, 1993/94 (NZ$270 million baseline) to 2004/05. Source: Mental Health Commission (2006). New Zealand is a Pacific country of 4.15 million people. At the last census (2001), with three responses allowed per person, 80% identified themselves as being European, 15% as being indigenous Maori, 6.5% Pacific Island and 6.6% Asian, with other ethnicities accounting for less than 1% of the population. These categories are very broad and only partially describe the situation that exists in New Zealand. For example, while 91% identified with one ethnicity, 44% of Maori identified with multiple ethnicities (Ministry of Social Development, 2006). The median age of the population is 36 years. The overall male/female gender ratio is 0.99. The unemployment rate currently stands at around 4%.