About Us

The Paediatric Society of New Zealand Inc (PSNZ) is a not-for-profit charitable organisation. Until 2000 it remained largely a professional support organisation for paediatricians. In 2000 it moved to become a multidisciplinary organisation in recognition of the crucial role played by all groups of child health professionals in achieving its mission. PSNZ is committed to improving the health of children and young people. As a multi-disciplinary Society it is able to develop and influence pathways for improvement.

The PSNZ is a national organisation working to:

be consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
advocate for the health, well-being and social environment of children and young people
plan for the development of all aspects of health care for children and young people and consider how services inter-link with each other
promote quality health care and disease prevention initiatives for children and young people
establish standards, guidelines and position statements
provide and publish information for health care professionals and the public on matters that concern the health and welfare of children and young people

The Starship Foundation is a charity set up to champion the health needs of New Zealand children. The Foundation predominantly provides additional equipment, support and help to patients, their families and staff at Starship Children's Health - as an extra to state funding.

Community and corporate support has allowed the Foundation to boost many different areas of child health - from antenatal and newborn services through to other highly complex national services like intensive care, heart, cancer and neurosurgery. It also applies funds to paediatric research and community projects which aim to keep children healthy and happy.

Since the Starship Foundation was set up 14 years ago it has managed many major, high-profile campaigns. These include:

a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Starship for cancer kids
the country's first dedicated Neuroservices unit at Starship
a Paediatric Liver Transplant Unit based in Auckland which removes the need for young children to travel to Australia
Puawaitahi - the country's first multi-agency centre to investigate and treat child abuse cases
the new Starship Heart Unit, which treats children nationwide
NZ TelePaediatric Service which provides a video-conferencing network which connects medical professionals from around the country to pool expertise

The Foundation is also proud to have worked in partnership with the Paediatric Society of New Zealand to make this website possible.