Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health
Well Child Tamariki Ora (WCTO) is New Zealand’s key programme for supporting the health, development and wellbeing of tamariki from birth to five years.
In 2019, the Ministry began a process to review the Well Child Tamariki Ora programme to ensure it was delivering the best possible outcomes it could for all tamariki and their whānau. The review was commissioned as part of the health and disability sector’s response to the Government’s 2019 Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy and sought to analyse the programme’s sustainability and equity.
The review was informed by sector engagement hui; provider interviews; online surveys; consumer insight reviews; rapid evidence reviews; analysis of success and outcomes data; reviews of local and international research; and reviews of key policy settings.
This review report identifies that changes are needed to the design, delivery and resourcing of WCTO to achieve equity and to fully support tamariki and whānau who are Māori, Pacific, living with disabilities, in state care, and/or have high needs.
Supporting documents
These reports were commissioned to support the review.
- The qualitative research report to inform the Well Child Tamariki Ora review on whānau Māori moemoeā for their pēpi/tamariki health and wellbeing (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- The literature review report on the design features to improve equity for Māori in the WCTO programme (PDF, 855 KB)
- Key insights from whānau Māori research and literature to inform the WCTO programme review (PDF, 250 KB)
- A Better Start, E Tipu e Rea Brief Evidence Reviews for the Well Child Tamariki Ora Programme (PDF, 4.9 MB)
- A Better Start, E Tipu e Rea individual rapid evidence reviews:
- WCTO Domain 1 – Neurodevelopmental screening and surveillance (PDF, 1.6 MB)
- WCTO Domain 2 – Parent-child relationships, including caregiving and attachment (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- WCTO Domain 3 – Social, emotional, and behavioural mental health screening (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- WCTO Domain 4 – Parental mental health problems during pregnancy and the postnatal period (PDF, 1.3 MB)
- WCTO Domain 5 – Parental alcohol, cannabis, methamphetamine, and opioid use during pregnancy (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- WCTO Domain 6 – Excessive weight gain and poor growth (PDF, 1.4 MB)
- WCTO Domain 7 – Vision screening in infancy and childhood (PDF, 2.1 MB)
- WCTO Domain 8 – Oral health promotion and early preventive interventions in a community setting (PDF, 2.3 MB)
- WCTO Domain 9 – Adverse childhood experiences (PDF, 1.5 MB)
- WCTO Domain 10 – Hearing screening in childhood excluding newborns (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- WCTO Domain 11 – Family violence screening and intervention (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Note that the Ministry’s copyright policy does not apply to these reports.
