Assessment 2 Report: Life Expectancy and Healthy Ageing Strategy

This report analyzes life expectancy in New Zealand, comparing it to India, and explores the factors influencing it. The study examines socioeconomic status, healthcare quality, and health behaviors as key determinants of mortality rates. It highlights the impact of New Zealand's Healthy Ageing Strategy 2016, a revised version of the 2002 strategy, and its focus on creating a health-conscious population to improve life expectancy. The report contrasts the strategy with international perspectives, considering the challenges of developing economies. It provides statistical data on life expectancy in both countries, investigates the background and development of the strategy, and discusses its themes, including healthy aging, living with long-term conditions, and end-of-life care, while also considering the limitations of the strategy in the context of global health disparities. The report uses collaborative engagement and sustainability protocols to deliver the most significant outcome creating a formidable learning environment.

Running Head: ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 1
Assessment 2: Report
Following the guidelines of the Course ID guidelines
Student’s Name
University
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 2
Executive Summary
The identified assessment report has been developed to address the life
expectancy status of New Zealand and the influencing factors affecting the life
expectancy of elderly adult living in a country. Moreover, socioeconomic status,
quality of health facilities, and health behaviours of the social population can be
identified as the leading influencing factors affecting the mortality rate. Furthermore,
the technological development and initiatives taken by the New Zealand Government
in terms of ageing population increases the life expectancy rate in the nation to a
higher level as compared to India, which is struggling for economic development and
lacks in proper healthcare infrastructure. The Healthy Ageing Strategy of the New
Zealand Government is based on a theme of creating a health smart population to
further improve the life expectancy rate in the nation. The Healthy Ageing Strategy is
an upgraded version of the Heath of Older People Strategy (2002). The new strategy
has been developed keeping in mind the social needs and political environment of the
nation. However, the theme of the strategy fails to consider the factors of poor
healthcare infrastructure and political unrest in other developing economies that makes
the strategy incapable of meeting the needs of the ageing population over the
international perspective of similar theme.
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 3
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................4
Comparison of life expectancy data (New Zealand versus India)...................................5
Factors that influence life expectancy for people............................................................6
Theme of the ‘Healthy Ageing Strategy 2016’................................................................8
The background of the strategy and the reason for its development.............................10
Comparison of the theme of the strategy with an international perspective of similar
theme..............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................14
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 4
Introduction
In this particular reported study, the holistic health of older adult living in New
Zealand has been described. Precisely, by examining the positive life experiences of
New Zealand’s older adult, a critical discussion has been developed to identify the
quality of life as well as the life expectancy of the older adult living in the country.
Evidently, over the past couple of decades, better immunisation and advancement
medical science have massively contributed towards improved mortality rate (Tobias
& Cheung, 2013). In addition, the study will compare the life expectancy data of New
Zealand to that of India to evaluate how New Zealand has been placed at the
international level. Moreover, the report will investigate the factors influencing the
quality of life for the older adult.
In the discussion, government policies of New Zealand related to the older
adult of the nation have been further analysed. Also, the policies of the New Zealand
government intending towards the older adults have been compared with an
international perspective for a better understanding of the measures. In the meanwhile,
the collaborative engagement and the concept of sustainability protocols have been
integrated into the reported study so that the most significant outcome will be delivered
creating a formidable learning environment (Harper, 2015). Additionally, the theme of
the selected strategy of Healthy Ageing Strategy 2016 has been summarised in the
report as well. Convincingly, the background of the strategy and the reason for its
development has been further explained to define the most sustainable practices
leading to success. Effectively, the comparison of current statistical data around life
expectancy for the older adult in New Zealand with international data will reveal what
is the significance of the government policy measures influencing the life expectancy
of the older adult.
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 5
Comparison of life expectancy data (New Zealand versus India)
The analysis of life expectancy data will be crucial for this particular study to
understand the differences of government practices and policies in New Zealand and
India related to older adult health and safety. Critically, according to the reports
published by Statistics New Zealand, life expectancy for females and males are 83.2
years and 79.5 years respectively in 2012-2014 periods as shown in figure 1
(Stats.govt.nz, 2017).
Figure 1: Life Expectancy in New Zealand (2012-2014)
Source: (Stats.govt.nz, 2017)
Since 2005-2007, the life expectancy of males and females has increased by
1.5 years and 1 year respectively in 2012-214. Evidently, as per the reports and media
release, the life expectancy gap between New Zealand male and female has lessened in
the last 8 to 10 years. Moreover, the life expectancy of both Maori and non-Maori
population in the nation has been increased since 2005-07 (Stats.govt.nz, 2017).
According to the historic data, in 2005-07, the life expectancy of a non-Maori person
was 8.2 years more than a Maori person.
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 6
In order to compare the life expectancy situation of New Zealand with another
nation, India has been selected as the preferred country for research purpose.
According to the statistical data released by the Union of Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare in India, the condition of life expectancy in the country has increased
since 2001-2005. The published reports can be shown that mortality rate among Indian
males has gone up from 62.3 years to 67.3 years in 2011-2015, up by five years
(Sampath, 2017). In case of India females, the life expectancy rate has increased to
69.6 years from 63.9 years. Precisely, health indicators in the Indian sub-continent are
showing the signs of massive improvement since the last decade or so. According to
the experts and medical practitioners, better nutrition, immunisation, and health living
standards have contributed to the growth in life expectancy rate of Indian population.
Factors that influence life expectancy for people
In the statistics of life expectancy, a better health condition and health policies
for the elderly population can influence the average life expectancy of a nation on a
positive note. Meanwhile, health and safety of the older adult can be essential to
increase the overall life expectancy rate of a country (Marks, 2011). Markedly, there
are a number of factors influencing the life expectancy rate of a target population that
have been summarised in the section as follows:
Socioeconomic Status
Socioeconomic status can be identified as one of the most evident factors
affecting the life expectancy of a social population. Meanwhile, socioeconomic status
includes employment condition, education, income, standard of living, and economic
wellbeing. For instance, better employment opportunities will influence the health
security of the national population. Moreover, improved income status will mean
significant amount of money will be spent on health and safety of population (Tobias
& Cheung, 2013). Thus, life expectancy of the people will be gone up. Furthermore,
better standard of living and economic wellbeing will certify good health and safety
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 7
leading to higher mortality rate. Economic wellbeing of a nation signifies that
population of the country will have an improved Gross Domestic Product per capita
(Malcolm, 2014). Hence, rural population of the country will be looked after in a
superior way. Also, education standards of people will confirm that people will be
health conscious. In this way, a better socioeconomic condition has led to improved
life expectancy of social population (Harper, 2015).
Quality of health facilities
Quality of health facilities and accessibility of the health system can be termed
as another leading influencing factor in higher life expectancy. In the developed
countries, quality of health system has been prioritised by the government. Precisely,
government spend significant amount of capital in health sector to deliver better health
system (Creedy, Enright, Gemmell & Mellish, 2010). Also, the government policies
have ensured middle-class and lower class people will easily access to the health
facilities as per their requirements. Furthermore, advancement of modern medical
science has offered better immunisation and treatment for people. Clinically, improved
health facilities have certainly influenced the life expectancy (Creedy & Gemmell,
2014). However, in developing countries, social population have lacked significant
access of better health system due to monetary issue. Hence, life expectancy of the
population has been reduced (Malcolm, 2014).
Health Behaviours of Community
Health behaviours of the social population can be identified as an important
factor affecting the mortality rate of people living in a country. Arguably, if the social
population has followed negative health behaviours such as excessive consumption of
alcohol and tobacco, the life expectancy rate will be reduced (Robbins, 2014). Also,
nutrition of social population is a vital aspect in health behaviour. A poor nutrition of
social population can significantly decrease the mortality rate as malnutrition can
create an adverse effect on the health of ageing population and elderly adult.
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 8
Furthermore, lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits will also impact the life
expectancy rate in a negative way (Buckle & Creedy, 2014).
Theme of the ‘Healthy Ageing Strategy 2016’
The Healthy Ageing Strategy 2016 can be identified as a strategic modification
the Heath of Older People Strategy 2002 to provide better health and wellbeing of
elderly adult living in New Zealand. In this particular strategic intervention,
government policies, service delivery, and funding set up have been included by the
government of New Zealand ("Healthy Ageing Strategy", 2017). The strategy
prioritises high quality health services for the elderly adult population. Furthermore,
healthy ageing through older years of elderly population has been ensured so that life
expectancy of the older adult can be increased. Also, a better support system has been
delivered under the strategy to fulfil the complex needs of the older adult (Sandiford,
Consuelo & Rouse, 2016).
The primary theme of the New Zealand’s Healthy Ageing Strategy is to make
the people of the country health smart ("Healthy Ageing Strategy", 2017). In other
words, the Ministry of Health aims to create a health smart population by providing the
individuals as well as carers and families with adequate information about prevention
of long term conditions. The theme of the strategy is based on healthy ageing in order
to enhance the life expectancy rate in the country. Furthermore, the theme of the New
Zealand’s Healthy Ageing Strategy can be understood by discussing the five major
strategies that supports the healthy ageing initiative of the government.
 Ageing Well
 Living well with long term conditions
 Acute and restorative care
 Support for people with high and complex needs
 Respect end of life
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 9
It can be seen that all the five strategy themes are based on a single theme of
making the population health smart. By making the population health smart, the
government can develop an environment of healthy living and improve the life
expectancy rate in the nation. The theme of the strategy initiates the individuals, care
takers and families to age well and live well with long term conditions ("Healthy
Ageing Strategy", 2017). Furthermore, the government can create a better society and
community for the ageing population by providing sensitive and soothing care and
meeting their high and complex needs. Finally, the strategy aims to make individuals
and care takers respect the end of life ("Healthy Ageing Strategy", 2017). Therefore, it
is quite clear that the strategy is based on a theme of creating a health smart population
for healthy ageing.
The background of the strategy and the reason for its development
According to Honourable Associate Health Minister Sam Lotu-liga, the New
Zealand Population is getting aged day by day and more than one fourth of the
population will be above 65 years of age by the end of 2036 ("Healthy Ageing
Strategy", 2017). Previously, the New Zealand government introduced an ageing
healthcare strategy known as the Heath of Older People Strategy (2002), which was
implemented to improve the health care services for aged population and disabled
people. However, the strategy has been found to have certain drawbacks and the
government bodies have been unable to properly implement the actions according to
the plan (Shreeve, 2010). The older strategy mainly focused on taking care of the old
age and disabled people in place of making them aware of how to prevent the issues of
ageing. In other words, the older strategy was formed to add years to life in place of
adding life to years (Hazan, 2011). The drawback of the strategy to make individuals
understand the importance to respect the end of life led to the formation of the new
strategy. Furthermore, the older strategy lacked in making the individuals and carers
understand the importance of living a healthy life and how the life expectancy rate can
be improved in the nation (Kawada, 2014).
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 10
Healthy Ageing Strategy (2016) was developed with a collaboration of more
than 2000 people that include older age people, care takers, political parties, and other
individuals from healthcare sector. This strategy was developed to present strategic
direction for the changes and set of actions that are required to improve the health of
aged people, while entering or throughout their older years. A campaign was launched
by the Ministry of Health of New Zealand under the leadership of former Prime
Minister John Key, to collect feedback from the common people in order to understand
what people need and expect from the government (Barber, 2017). Additionally, more
than 200 submissions were published over the Ministry of Health website to actively
collect feedback of the common people ("New strategy to drive healthy ageing", 2017).
The feedbacks of common people were considered as individuals get aged in different
ways and at different times. Additionally, the needs of the people may vary from one
person to another depending upon their financial status, health behaviour of the
community and quality of healthcare services (Barber, 2017). Hence, the healthy
ageing strategy was developed keeping in mind that healthy ageing is a life-long
process. However, the strategy has faced several criticisms from the opposing political
parties as the new initiative of the government has increased the spending over the
healthcare system, which is already high as compared to the GDP of the nation (Keene
et al., 2016). But, the immense support of the public and healthcare communities has
helped the New Zealand Government in successfully introducing the new strategy.
Comparison of the theme of the strategy with an international perspective
of similar theme
In order to compare the theme of the Healthy Ageing Strategy with an
international perspective of a similar theme, the Global Strategy and Action Plan on
Ageing and Health (2016-2020) of World Health Organisation has been considered. By
studying both the strategies, it can be seen that the themes are almost similar in both
the cases as they aim to develop health smart population in order to increase the life
expectancy rate across ageing population. According to the Health Ageing Strategy
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 11
(2016), the major points of the action plan of the New Zealand government have been
derived from the Global Strategy of the WHO. It can be seen that the theme of Health
Ageing Strategy aims to develop an age-friendly environment, meet the needs of the
ageing people, and implement long term care systems which are common to the themes
of the Global Strategy of WHO.
However, the primary differences in the theme that can be identified between
the two strategies is the focus of the New Zealand Government in making individuals
and care takers to respect the end of life, whereas the theme of the Global Strategy and
Action Plan emphasises on improving measurements, monitoring and research on
ageing and health. As New Zealand is a well developed nation and is quite advanced in
healthcare services, it has the capability to meet the needs of healthy ageing. But, there
is a lack of proper monitoring, measuring and research theme in their healthy ageing
strategy. On the other hand, World Health Organisation works for the welfare of the
people in both developed as well as developing nations, which makes it difficult for the
institution to use the same theme of enabling individuals to respect end of life in
different countries ("The Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health (2016-
2020)", 2017). Furthermore, the political unrest and economic distress are major
factors leading to poor life expectancy rate in the developing nations that makes the
organisation choose another theme of measurement, monitoring and research in order
to promote healthy ageing over the international platform.
Conclusion
By considering the above analysis, it can be seen that the life expectancy rate
of New Zealand is quite higher than any other developing nations due to better
healthcare infrastructure and high spending of the Government on healthcare services.
Moreover, there are several factors that influence the life expectancy rate in different
countries across the globe that are mostly common in nature. Furthermore, the Healthy
Ageing Strategy (2016) of the New Zealand Government is primarily based on a theme
of create a health smart population to further increase the life expectancy rate and
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 12
provide a better environment for the ageing people. The government of the nation has
effectively collaborated with the common public in order to re-design the older
strategy and introduce the Healthy Ageing Strategy (2016). Additionally, the theme of
the Healthy Ageing Strategy of New Zealand is mainly derived from the Global
Strategy and Action Plan for Ageing and Health of WHO. However, the basic
difference that can be found in both the themes is that the Healthy Ageing Strategy’s
theme focuses on developing a health smart population due to the countries well
structured healthcare infrastructure and the Global Strategy’s theme focus on
developing a better healthcare environment for the population because of the poor
healthcare infrastructure in the developing nations.
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 13
References
Barber, P. (2017). Healthy Ageing Strategy - NZ Council of Christian Social
Services. NZ Council of Christian Social Services. Retrieved October 2017, from
http://nzccss.org.nz/news/2016/12/healthy-ageing-strategy/
Buckle, R., & Creedy, J. (2014). Population ageing and long-run fiscal sustainability in
New Zealand. New Zealand Economic Papers, 48(2), 105-110.
Creedy, J., & Gemmell, N. (2014). Can fiscal drag pay for the public spending effects
of population ageing in New Zealand?. New Zealand Economic Papers, 48(2),
183-195.
Creedy, J., Enright, J., Gemmell, N., & Mellish, A. (2010). Population ageing and
taxation in New Zealand. New Zealand Economic Papers, 44(2), 137-158.
Harper, S. (2015). Addressing Longevity, Life Expectancy and Health Life
Expectancy. Journal Of Population Ageing, 8(4), 223-226.
Hazan, M. (2011). Life Expectancy and Schooling: New Insights from Cross-Country
Data. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Healthy Ageing Strategy. (2017). Ministry of Health NZ. Retrieved October 2017, from
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/healthy-ageing-strategy
Kawada, T. (2014). Associated factors with gender gap in life expectancy:
Recommendation for the use of healthy life expectancy. Geriatrics &
Gerontology International, 14(3), 728-729.
Keene, L., Bagshaw, P., Nicholls, M., Rosenberg, B., Frampton, C., & Powell, I.
(2016). Funding New Zealand’s public healthcare system: time for an honest
appraisal and public debate. The New Zealand Medical Journal, 129(1435).
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 14
Malcolm, M. (2014). Avoidable mortality and life expectancy in New
Zealand. Journal Of Epidemiology & Community Health, 48(2), 211-211.
Marks, R. (2011). Promoting active and healthy ageing. Quality In Ageing And Older
Adults, 12(1), 5-5.
New strategy to drive healthy ageing | Scoop News. (2017). Scoop.co.nz. Retrieved
October 2017, from http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1612/S00227/new-
strategy-to-drive-healthy-ageing.htm
New Zealand Period Life Tables: 2012–14. (2017). Stats.govt.nz. Retrieved October
2017, from
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/health/life_expectancy/NZLifeTables
_MR12-14.aspx
Robbins, R. (2014). Objective and Subjective Factors in Estimating Life
Expectancy. Psychological Reports, 63(1), 47-53.
Sampath, J. (2017). Life expectancy in India goes up by 5 years in a decade - Times of
India. The Times of India. Retrieved October 2017, from
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Life-expectancy-in-India-goes-up-by-
5-years-in-a-decade/articleshow/29513964.cms
Sandiford, P., Consuelo, D., & Rouse, P. (2016). How efficient are New Zealand's
District Health Boards at producing life expectancy gains for Māori and
Europeans?. Australian And New Zealand Journal Of Public Health, 41(2), 125-
129.
Shreeve, M. (2010). Could Better Government for Older People deliver quality in
ageing?. Quality In Ageing And Older Adults, 1(2), 7-17.
Student ID

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT 15
The Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health (2016-2020).
(2017). who.int. Retrieved October 2017, from http://who.int/ageing/global-
strategy/en/
Tobias, M., & Cheung, J. (2013). Monitoring health inequalities: life expectancy and
small area deprivation in New Zealand. Population Health Metrics, 1(1).
Student ID