Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness in New Zealanders, yet a significant proportion of patients with diabetes are not reached by diabetes eye screening. 

Climate change is already affecting Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa-NZ). The public health effects are varied and complex, and rural primary care staff will be at the front line of effects and responses. However, little is known about their understanding and experience.

Our study findings provide, for the first time for Aotearoa New Zealand, a standardised description of each rural hospital’s catchment boundary and the socio-demographic characteristics of the population living within this area.

You’ve heard about it! Now read in detail on how the Geographic Classification for Health in Aotearoa NZ was developed. A game-changer for rural health policy and delivery.

This paper is the first to use the new Geographic Classification of Health to examine rural:urban differences and demonstrates how the GCH will impact health policy and research going forward. 

There is a gap in our knowledge of the place and contribution of rural hospitals in the New Zealand health system. There is no current description of rural hospital services, no national policies and little published research regarding their value.