Abstract
Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) prides itself on being a food-producing nation. However, at a population level, many New Zealanders struggle to eat a healthy diet in line with our food and nutrition guidelines. There is a range of actions the Government could take to improve people’s dietary intake and ultimately increase the health and wellbeing of the population. But which ones have the greatest health impact?
Our newly published research estimates the impacts of three different food policies, selected by stakeholders, for the NZ population: Exempting core, sustainable foods from GST, education about healthy, sustainable foods, and māra kai (food garden) and community gardens. For each policy, we modelled the health gains, health equity impacts, and net costs/cost savings to the health system.
Our results show these policies have the potential to improve population health and reduce health inequities for Māori. Removing GST from sustainable core foods delivered the greatest health gains and large, long‑term health system cost savings. Careful policy design involving relevant stakeholders, including Māori communities, is needed to ensure health and equity benefits are realised.