The current and future state of child health and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: Part 2

Optimizing maximal health and wellbeing outcomes for all children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand is a societal responsibility. The implications of ignoring poor health and wellbeing outcomes are manyfold, with compromised quality of life and increased costs in the short term, compounded by adverse effects across the life course that have intergenerational impacts. This special issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand is the second of two volumes bringing together manuscripts highlighting issues relevant to the health and welfare/ wellbeing of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand. The first part of this special issue covered some important aspects of life from conception to adolescence (Materoa Moton et al. 2022). In particular, the manuscripts focused on the critical importance of the first 1000 days, oral health and food security, honouring mokopuna Māori views and experiences around wellbeing, and issues in adolescent health and wellbeing including for Rainbow populations. This second part of the special issue comprises a further nine manuscripts that highlight a number of social determinants and impacts on health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people, and their families and whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand. Together this special issue of 18 manuscripts call our attention to the various challenges that children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand face now, and into the coming years. They place further emphasis on the importance of situating such challenges within the broader context of colonization, coloniality and racism and impacts on the health and wellbeing outcomes of all children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.