NZHR has made a submission to Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee recommending that the 2023 Budget Policy Statement

1. Be amended so that the health section of the New Zealand’s Wellbeing Outlook (p.5) includes premature mortality as a fundamental of indicator of wellbeing
   
   
2. Includes investment in R&D as one of the components of its fiscal strategy (p.27), including the government’s commitment to achieving its 2% of GDP target by 2030
   
   
3. Be amended so that the overarching goal of laying the foundations for the future includes improved health outcomes as a key issue which needs to be addressed (p.18)
   
   
4. Includes “increasing levels of amenable and non-amenable premature mortality” as one of the issues that should be addressed in pursuit of wellbeing objective 2: supporting improved health outcomes for all New Zealanders
   
   
5. Recognises that sustained increased investment in health research is essential for the achievement of improved health outcomes including reducing the incidence of premature mortality, thereby providing a policy framework which will enable the 2023 budget to:
   • Commit to a ten-year 2.4% of government healthcare costs health research investment trajectory, representing increases of at least 15.24% per year
   • Allocate an additional $27m of specific and exclusive new health research investment in the 2023/24 budget, with an emphasis on mental health and cancer research, comprising a total government investment allocation of $202m
   • Commit to a further three year investment trajectory comprising further year on year increases in specific and exclusive new health research funding of an additional $31m in 2024/25, a further additional $35.5m in 2025/26, and a further $41m again in 2026/27

The full submission can be read here