My View - New Zealand's world-class public health intelligence system

VIEW - Juliet Rumball-Smith, director of intelligence, NPHS

New Zealand is building a world-class health intelligence system that is changing how we think about public health. 

This transformation within the National Public Health Service (NPHS) is not about better spreadsheets, it is about fundamentally changing how we keep people healthy. 

The problem  

Currently, a woman participating in breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, and bowel screening appears in our data systems as effectively three different people.  

Her holistic health needs, including those outside screening, such as vaccination, support for smoking cessation, follow up care, are scattered across separate databases that do not talk to each other. 

This fragmented approach means missed opportunities, inefficient and less effective care, and makes us reactive rather than proactive in supporting people's health. 

The solution 

The new NPHS data warehouse means the health system will be able to see ‘whole’ people with connected health journeys, leveraging from the recent investments in data capture and technology. 

For example, the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR), launched in 2023, captures vaccinations across the life course, including those administered overseas, and integrates seamlessly with the National Health Index (NHI).  

This allows for precise, population-level insights and targeted interventions as we can see where the gaps are, who is missing out, and act quickly. 

Having near real-time, individual-level immunisation data, with information about personal characteristics, mapped to neighbourhoods, and linked to a national health identifier that works across the system, is rare globally. 

The integration of AIR with the Whaihua platform - a digital interface that allows health providers to view information held in Health New Zealand registers, the Book My Vaccine tool and also record newborn enrolments.

This means that for the first time we can actually see the process of immunisation care across multiple parts of the health system and multiple players.  

We can track which children are with which outreach provider, how long it is taking to reach them, and see what works best for each child and family. 

That means the system can focus on looking ahead, letting providers know in advance when a child is due for vaccination, and working with whānau.  

We all want them to have a positive experience, and for these tamariki to be protected from preventable diseases by vaccination at the age they need it. 

The future  

Looking ahead, the next phase of the data warehouse programme involves linking datasets across different health programmes and looking holistically at whānau and households, so that the data can recognise family relationships rather than seeing everyone as isolated individuals. 

At the moment, in our central health registers, we are not seeing siblings as related, and even miss links between a mother and her pēpi.   

Linking this data will also help us more rapidly explore and understand the relationships between (for example) HPV vaccination, HPV screening for cervical cancer, and the likelihood of developing the disease. using our intelligence to support and accelerate an elimination strategy for this cancer would be incredible. 

NPHS is also planning the migration of its data warehouse into the Health Data Platform (HDP), a move that supports better linkage with data sets like hospitalisation, outpatient appointments, and Emergency Department presentations.  

World-class 

While other countries are still conducting phone surveys to track immunisation rates, New Zealand is building something genuinely innovative.  

The new system can look backwards for analysis, forwards for planning and intervention modelling, as well as provide near real-time actionable insights for those delivering care on the ground.

We are no longer just reporting numbers, we are enabling action to help children and families in a very real way, and the opportunities to promote health and prevent illness before it starts are pretty magical. 

Read more about the modern data warehouse built by NPHS in this story in eHealthNews and hear NPHS Intelligence national manager improvement and performance Becky Cassie speak about it at Digital Health Week this November 24-27, 2025 at Te Pae in Ōtautahi Christchurch. 

Register to attend here. 

If you want to contact eHealthNews.nz regarding this View, please email the editor Rebecca McBeth.

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