Our children are the future
Every child should have the best possible start in life. To achieve this A Better Start researchers are creating the tools and methods to predict, prevent and intervene early so children have a healthy weight, are successful learners and teenagers can access the tools they need to look after their mental health.
A Better Start is the National Science Challenge working to help children, teenagers, their whanau and family achieve the best possible start in life. Our job is to find practical, evidence-based solutions that make a measurable difference for tamariki.
We can do that only when we work with communities, draw together indigenous and Western approaches to knowledge and bring the best researchers from different disciplines here and overseas to take a holistic approach rather than address health, wellbeing and learning issues in isolation.
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Improving the potential for all young New Zealanders to lead healthy and successful lives
The Science
Collaborative research and science excellence
News
Updates and events.
News and events
Personal touch to researcher’s work
As an immigrant to New Zealand, A Better Start (ABS) E Tipu e Rea National Science Challenge PhD candidate Alice Kim says her research has personal relevance to her.
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Navigating new models of indigenous health and wellbeing
Research Fellow for A Better Start E Tipu e Rea’s Big Data theme Justine Camp’s hard mahi has come to fruition, with an opportunity to speak at an indigenous research conference in Hawaii.
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Daughters’ weight and height affected by mothers who smoke
Director of A Better Start E Tipu e Rea Professor Wayne Cutfield and Senior Research Fellow at the Liggins Institute Dr José Derraik are part of a new study which highlights another reason for women to avoid tobacco during pregnancy. The new international Liggins...
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A time to connect with whānau and friends
From all of us at A Better Start E Tipu e Rea, our heart goes out to the Muslim community and those affected by the tragic shootings in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.
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E Tipu e Rea
Grow and Branch Forth
E Tipu e Rea is A Better Start’s Māori name.
In 1949, shortly before his death, Māori leader and scholar Sir Āpirana Turupa Ngata of Ngāti Porou wrote into the autograph book of schoolgirl Rangi Bennett a passage about his vision for Māori youth.
E tipu e rea mō ngā rā o tō ao
Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā
Hei ora mō te tinana
Ko tō ngākau ki ngā tāonga a ō tīpuna Māori
Hei tikitiki mō tō māhuna
Ko tō wairua ki tō atua
Nānā nei ngā mea katoa.
Grow and branch forth for the days destined to you
Your hands to the tools of the Pākehā
For the welfare of your body
Your heart to the treasures of your ancestors
adornments for your brow
Your spirit to god
Who made all things.
