Isn’t life expectancy a health outcome?

Stuff reports:

“The prejudice suffered by Māori because of these Crown failures is extensive,” said the tribunal in its report.
It said despite the Crown investing some $220 billion into the health system since 2000, there’s been little improvement in outcomes for Māori.

There is no doubt Maori New Zealanders have worse health outcomes than non-Maori. Incidentally males have worst health outcomes than females also.

But to say there has been no improvement is simply wrong. Life expectancy is arguably the most important health outcome. Let’s look at the stats:

The increase since 2000 is:

• Non-Maori females 2 years
• Non-Maori male 3.1 years
• Maori female 3.9 years
• Maori male Maori male 4.0 years

And if we go back to 1951, the increases have been:

• Non-Maori females 12 years
  Non-Maori male 12 years
  Maori female 21 years
  Maori male Maori male 19 years