The rate of immunisation for Maori children in the Bay of Plenty is up, surpassing the high government standards set.

The immunisation rate for Maori children in the region is at 92 per cent, with the overall rate at 88 per cent.

See more Bay of Plenty District Health Board graphs below.

Government health targets require district health boards to ensure 90 per cent of two-year-olds are fully immunised by July 2011 and 95 per cent by July 2012.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board chair Sally Webb says having a high immunisation rate among Maori children is due to a group of determined health providers working well together.

Nga Mataapuna Oranga PHO director of nursing Orana Harris says the success rate is attributed to a whole-of-team approach including the District Health Board portfolio managers, the PHOs, National Immumisation Register staff and Immunisation Champions.

'Our nurses, Tamariki Ora, Practice nurses and Tamariki Ora Kaimahi, have been instrumental in making a difference and leading the charge including addressing glitches in IT systems,” says Orana.

'All in all it has been a huge effort – I believe shared awareness of performance has made a considerable impact on our performance.

'To get the Maori immunisation rate to 92 per cent is amazing.”

Sally says the Bay of Plenty medical sector needs to keep focused on getting the immunisation rate across the whole region improved.

'We have outbreaks of measles in regions close by, and as we know, immunisation is one of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of infectious diseases in our communities.

New Zealand's immunisation rates are among the worst in the OECD with babies in New Zealand more likely than children in Australia, to contract whooping cough, which can lead to severe pneumonia, brain damage and in severe cases death.