Wall LouisaHealth SectorLOUISA WALL (Chairperson of the Health Committee): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to the annual review debate of the health sector. As the chair of the Health Committee it has been my pleasure to have overseen the review of 13 of our 27 entities and they have comprised 10 of the 20 district health boards (DHBs) and three of the seven Crown entities.I think it's relevant that I outline who we did engage with so that the public are aware of the level of scrutiny that we undertook. The agencies were the Ministry of Health Pharmac and the Health Research Council. The DHBs that we engaged with were Southern DHB Auckland Bay of Plenty Waikato Canterbury Taranaki Counties Manukau Wairarapa Lakes Tairāwhiti and Northland. I particularly want to thank and pay tribute to the leaders of those particular organisations for the spirit in which they engaged with the committee. It was a very robust process. But I also want to acknowledge that through this process we do ask for a lot of information and so I want to acknowledge all the staff that were involved in preparing reports to our committee and the diligence with which we as a committee chose to review the answers or responses to those questions.I particularly want to focus on two DHBs and the first DHB is Canterbury DHB. The reason I choose Canterbury DHB actually in part is because of their response after 15 March. Can I say on behalf of all of us how very proud we were of their response to that terrorist attack and the tragedy that unfolded. Their response was such I think that we owe them a great debt of gratitude. In saying that I acknowledge the 51 people that lost their lives but the many others whose lives were saved.Canterbury DHB particularly focused on their relationship with the Ministry of Health. For them it had become a collaborative and positive relationship to address historical issues and they felt they were on a good pathway forward. I want to acknowledge that one of the areas where they had increased health outcomes was in the Māori health area. The average life expectancy difference is 6.3 years but for Canterbury DHB it's actually 2.4 and so they told us quite explicitly that they'd actively engaged in closing the gaps—they even used that language. I also want to highlight from their perspective that infant immunisations had increased and they also had a lower rate of avoidable hospitalisation admissions for children aged zero to four.The other area that they highlighted specifically was the Mana Ake - Stronger for Tomorrow programme. This is for five- to 12-year-olds to address the trauma and anxiety faced by young people who have lived through the trauma of repeated earthquakes. So I particularly want to acknowledge the relationship between the DHB and the Ministry of Health the Ministry of Education the police NGO consumer groups and the focus that they all had collectively on wellbeing and resilience. I think it's important that we highlight that those initiatives are actually working.I now want to focus on Bay of Plenty District Health Board and I start from a quote by Sally Webb who is chair. She said that the response to the negative effects of the anti-vaxx campaign needs to be addressed on a national level." I highlight that because actually the World Health Organization has said that we have a global threat in terms of vaccine hesitancy. So these are parents who are actively choosing not to immunise their children and in the Bay of Plenty DHB that number had increased to over 10 percent. They actually think they're doing really well in making sure that all children whose parents want them vaccinated are being vaccinated. As a select committee we will hear from Nikki Turner who heads the Immunisation Advisory Centre—CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): Sorry to interrupt the member but it's come time for me to leave the chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m."