Pacific Magazine > Daily News

Study On NZ-Pacific Children Gets Funding Boost

By Fred Brignone in Auckland
Friday: March 28, 2008

A New Zealand study of Pacific children launched in 2000 has received a Government funding boost of nearly NZ$4 (US$2.3) million, allowing it to continue for five more years.

The Auckland University of Technology study of 1000 children born in 2000 at Middlemore Hospital from Pacific parents and led by professor of developmental psychology Dr Janis Paterson reveals crucial information on Pacific-focused issues, such as health, the impact of living in a different country, the survival of Pacific cultures and other factors considered to be influential in a child’s life.

The $3.75 million grant to AUT is one of five from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology's $8.1 million available for the "Building an Inclusive Society" portfolio. The Foundation had previously invested NZ $2M in the study.

Paterson says the grant will allow researchers to interview the children themselves, now aged nine and to follow them into adolescence.

The first of its kind in New Zealand, the study has so far allowed researchers to gather data on each child’s height, weight and language development. Information on the children’s nutrition and physical activity is also being collected.

Nine years on, the study has resulted in improved immunisation services for Pacific children, Paterson says, as well as greater emphasis and education on diabetes, obesity prevention and healthy eating patterns as well as the appointment of New Zealand’s first Samoan lactation consultant to work with breast-feeding mothers.

The study, while providing significant insight into the lives of Pacific Island children and families in New Zealand, has led to other major developments, such as a cohort of Pacific Island researchers who have joined the project.

Pacific people represent almost 7 percent of New Zealand’s population and are over-represented in many adverse health and social statistics. Prior to the research, little information was available on Pacific cultures in New Zealand.

The study will be used as a stepping-stone for public health and social intervention programmes.