75704 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

75704 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: What are the drivers for the reduction in age-standardised disability-adjusted life years as contained in the Ministry of Health's annual report for the year ended 30 June 2024?

Hon Dr Shane Reti: I am advised that the Ministry of Health’s Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2024 presents disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from 1990 to 2021. This data is obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021, produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The data shows a reduction in age-standardised DALYs from 294 per 1,000 people in 1990 to 204 per 1,000 in 2021. I am further advised that the GBD 2021 data tells us that this reduction in DALYs relates to reduced health loss across several causes. The five condition groups that contribute most to the absolute decrease in age-standardised DALYs from 1990 to 2021 are: 1. Cardiovascular diseases – from 58 to 22 per 1,000 2. Neoplasms – from 45 to 30 per 1,000 3. Transport injuries – from 18 to 5 per 1,000 4. Other non-communicable diseases – from 21 to 14 per 1,000 5. Chronic respiratory diseases – from 16 to 9 per 1,000.