New Zealand faces significant public health challenges — high rates of childhood poverty, tobacco use in Māori communities, obesity, preventable infectious disease, and persistent health inequities between Māori and non-Māori. Prevention and population health investment has excellent return on investment: keeping people healthy is far cheaper than treating illness. Grant funding supports the research, community interventions, and advocacy that address NZ's health determinants and build a healthier Aotearoa.
The NZ health landscape
New Zealand has a publicly funded health system (Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand) providing universal primary and secondary care. But health outcomes are uneven:
Key public health priorities
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand
The primary funder of public health in NZ:
- Public health programmes
- Regional public health units
- Immunisation
- Tobacco control
Health Promotion Agency (HPA)
Health promotion and disease prevention:
- Alcohol harm reduction
- Mental wellbeing
- Nutrition and physical activity
Health Research Council (HRC)
NZ's primary health research funder:
- Project grants (public health research)
- Explorer grants
- Māori health research
- Pacific health research
- Clinical trials and applied research
Ministry of Health (Manatū Hauora)
Policy and some programme funding — transitioning to Te Whatu Ora.
Te Puni Kōkiri
Māori health and wellbeing programmes.
Health Research Council (HRC)
The HRC funds philanthropically as well as through government — some funds are charitable.
Counties Manukau Health Foundation
Public health research and programmes in South Auckland.
The Canterbury Community Trust
Health and community wellbeing in Canterbury.
New Zealand Community Trusts
Gaming trust network — significant local public health and community health funding.
Foundation North
Northern region public health and community health.
Gravida (National Centre for Growth and Development)
Child and maternal health research.
Smokefree Aotearoa 2025
NZ's world-leading tobacco endgame — committed to reducing smoking prevalence to less than 5% by 2025, with near-zero for Māori:
- Stop smoking services (Quitline, Aukati Kai Paipa, community-based)
- Nicotine Replacement Therapy access
- Vaping as cessation tool (more liberal approach than Australia)
- Enforcement of smokefree regulations
- Māori-led tobacco control programmes
- De-normalisation campaigns
Obesity and nutrition
Alcohol harm reduction
Immunisation
Physical activity
Environmental health
Māori public health
Kaupapa Māori approaches to public health:
- Māori health promotion
- Whānau Ora (family-centred health and social services)
- Rongoā Māori (traditional healing alongside Western medicine)
- Māori research leadership (HRC Māori health research)
Pacific public health
Pacific peoples face significant health disparities:
- Pasifika-led health programmes
- Pacific community health workers
- By Pacific, for Pacific research
- Diabetes and cardiovascular prevention
Child and maternal health
Research
New Zealand's Smokefree 2025 goal is the most ambitious tobacco endgame anywhere in the world. Legislation passed under the previous government included:
- Denicotinised cigarettes (very low nicotine)
- Retail number of tobacco sellers reduced dramatically (from approximately 8,000 to 600)
- Smokefree generation (people born after 2009 could never legally buy tobacco)
Political change in 2023-24 has seen these measures challenged — the sector is in advocacy mode. Applications supporting tobacco endgame advocacy and cessation services are highly relevant.
Te Tiriti and equity
Health inequities for Māori and Pacific peoples are the central public health challenge in NZ. Applications grounded in Te Tiriti, kaupapa Māori, and Pacific-led approaches are well-positioned.
Smokefree advocacy
The Smokefree 2025 goal is at political risk — advocacy and evidence-based programmes are urgently needed.
Childhood health ROI
Investing in child health (nutrition, physical activity, safe environments) has exceptional ROI — health gains compound over a lifetime. Applications framing child health investment as prevention are compelling.
Social determinants
Addressing poverty, housing, and education as health determinants is evidence-based and increasingly supported by NZ funders — moving beyond behaviour change to structural approaches.
Tahua's grants management platform supports public health funders and health promotion organisations in New Zealand — with programme tracking, population health outcome measurement, research grant administration, and the reporting tools that help NZ public health funders demonstrate their investment in a healthier, more equitable Aotearoa.