We spend billions treating sickness - it is time we invested a small fraction of that money in finding out how much sickness we can prevent.

New Zealand First will:

1. Put prevention back at the heart of healthcare. 

2. Have a strong focus on metabolic health, the key driver of chronic illness.

3. Ensure that informed consent is a core part of quality healthcare.

4. Recognise that consumer choice is what leads to healthier decisions.

5. Promote nutrition from primary school to medical school.

6. Require a full independent review of our dietary guidelines.

7. Reduce administrative burden and restore professional autonomy in General Practice.

8. Support our GPs by bringing health coaches into primary care.

9. Find better ways to acknowledge our nurses.

10. Fund our New Zealand scientists to assess nutritional interventions for preventing and treating mental illness.

11. Remove Medsafe/Pharmac barriers to recognised safe nutrients.

12. Invest in hospital trials to assess the effectiveness of intravenous vitamin C pre- and post-surgery for preventing and treating infections.

13. Fund a review of vitamin D and determine optimal levels for maintaining health. 

14. Support farmers and growers by investing in agricultural innovation that improves productivity, soil health, sustainability and resilience while researching practical alternatives to potentially harmful agricultural sprays.

15. Back our organic producers, cut unnecessary barriers, encourage investment and innovation, and grow new markets so New Zealand’s organic industry can create more jobs, strengthen regional communities, and deliver greater value from our land.

We need a serious direction change of what our health system does and how it is funded.

This is just the first campaign announcement in the larger plan to ‘Make NZ Healthy”.