About Malnutrition Care Aotearoa New Zealand
Malnutrition Care Aotearoa New Zealand (MCANZ) brings together health professionals, researchers, sector leaders, and people with lived experience to improve malnutrition care through collaboration, evidence, education and advocacy. Working across healthcare settings, MCANZ is developing a nationally coordinated, evidence-based approach to the screening, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition.
Why We Exist
The absence of a national approach has resulted in variation in how malnutrition is identified, assessed and managed across healthcare settings. This can contribute to delayed care, poorer health outcomes, inconsistent practice, limited national data, and inequities in access to appropriate nutrition care.
MCANZ was established to help address these challenges by supporting greater consistency, strengthening national information and evidence, promoting equitable access to care and improving outcomes for patients and whānau.
Photo by Jhan Castillón on Unsplash
Our Vision
A future where every adult in Aotearoa New Zealand has access to equitable, evidence-based malnutrition care.
We are working towards a health system where those who are at risk of or experiencing malnutrition are identified early, receive timely and appropriate nutrition care, and experience improved outcomes regardless of who they are and where they access healthcare.
Achieving this vision will improve health outcomes and quality of life for people experiencing malnutrition, while supporting better use of health resources.
Our Equity Commitment
MCANZ is committed to embedding equity throughout its governance, workstreams, recommendations and future resources.
We support equitable and culturally safe malnutrition care for Māori, Pacific peoples and all New Zealanders and seek to ensure our work contributes to improved outcomes across all communities. We will seek consumer and whānau perspectives and consider the different cultural, social and practical factors that influence access to nutrition care and outcomes.
Our Approach
A nationally coordinated approach to malnutrition care includes:
The five workstreams each contribute to different stages of this pathway, helping to support a more consistent, evidence-based and equitable approach to malnutrition care across Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Governance
MCANZ operates through a collaborative governance structure comprising of a Steering Group, a multidisciplinary Advisory Group and specialist Workstreams.
Together, these groups provide strategic leadership, expert and consumer advice, sector engagement and practical recommendations. This structure helps ensure MCANZ’swork reflects clinical evidence, community needs and the realities of delivering malnutrition care across different settings.