Background: Despite the increasing proportion of Asian and MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American and African) population groups in Aotearoa New Zealand (collectively referred here as A/EM), research on their health and wellbeing is still nascent. To improve our understanding of health and wellbeing of A/EM groups, including future research needs, a review and synthesis of existing A/EM research in New Zealand is timely.
Aim: To undertake a scoping review of existing research on A/EM health in New Zealand with a view to highlighting key health concerns for this group and identifying the areas where there is a concentration of A/EM research and, concomitantly, where there are gaps.
Methods: Medline and PubMed databases were searched for quantitative and qualitative studies published between 2010 and 2019 that report on A/EM health and wellbeing.
Results: The scoping review identified 115 (63 quantitative and 52 qualitative) studies. Three thematic areas were identified in the published literature: health conditions, health determinants and health services. The review also highlighted several gaps in the body of published A/EM research.
Conclusion: Overall, the evidence base on A/EM health in New Zealand is weak as there is limited information on health conditions and its determinants of minority groups, including their patterns of health service use. The nature and content of A/EM health research requires further substantive development in terms of understanding the health and its determinants of this ever increasing and heterogenous population group.