| The report contains data from the recently established Maternal and Newborn Information System (MNIS). MNIS currently contains extracts of hospital discharge data from the National Minimum Dataset (MNDS) and data from payment claims submitted to Health Benefits.
In New Zealand in 2000, 54,946 mothers gave birth and 55,477 babies were born in hospital, while in 2001 there were 53,805 mothers who gave birth to 54,288 babies in hospital.
| 2000 | 2001 |
No. | % | No. | % |
| Mothers | 54,946 | | 53,805 | |
| Liveborn babies | 55,477 | | 54,288 | |
| Perinatal deaths: |
| Stillbirths | 406 | 0.7 | 379 | 0.7 |
| In-hospital neonatal deaths | 191 | 0.3 | 134 | 0.2 |
| Type of birth: |
| Normal births | 37,601 | 68.4 | 36,364 | 67.6 |
| Caesarean sections | 11,431 | 20.8 | 11,891 | 22.1 |
| Operative births | 5914 | 10.8 | 5550 | 10.3 |
While the MNIS can provide answers to a wide range of queries, data quality limitations affect the robustness of the analyses. Addressing data quality issues will increase confidence in any analysis based on data held in the MNIS. The report on maternity for 2000 and 2001 should therefore be considered another step in production of reliable information for mothers, medical practitioners, healthcare providers, policy makers and funders of maternity services in New Zealand. |