Free, healthy school lunches in New Zealand: A Value for Investment analysis
The use of the Value for Investment approach was key because school lunch programs have many dimensions and the participatory research processes of the approach enabled stakeholders to emphasize the program's wide-ranging social and health benefits while identifying areas for improvement. While Ka Ora, Ka Ako rated very well across most of the 21 value dimensions, there are major concerns that this level of quality will not be upheld under the program's budget cuts from 2025 onwards.
Authors
- Boyd Swinburn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2131-045X)
- Julian King (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8630-1423)
- Sally Mackay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4135-6738)
- Carolina Mejía Toro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2414-2553)
- David Tipene‐Leach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-5248)
Institutions
- Eastern Institute of Technology (NZ)
- Statistics New Zealand (NZ)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Hawke's Bay Regional Council (NZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Public Health
- Published
- 2025-10-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-24529-8
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.88
Funders
- Ministry of Education- New Zealand