Long Covid advocates push politicians for data and disability support as election nears
People living with Long Covid are calling on New Zealand politicians to collect better data on the condition and open disability support services to those affected, as new Health Survey figures put the adult prevalence at 4.3 percent — roughly 185,000 people.
The call came at an online panel hosted by Long Covid Support Aotearoa, with MPs and candidates from Labour, ACT, the Greens, New Zealand First and the Opportunity Party attending on 10 August 2026. RNZ
Long Covid Support Aotearoa chair Larissa Hockey convened the session, which gave advocates a direct line to politicians across five parties weeks out from the 2026 election campaign.
Renee Dingwall, a Long Covid advocate who has the condition, told the panel that group members reported seeing doctors who did not believe in or understand Long Covid. The panel heard calls for both better clinical awareness and systemic data collection — meaning a coordinated, nationwide approach to tracking how many people have the condition, rather than relying on individual GP visits or ad hoc reporting.
Data questions on Covid-19 and Long Covid were added to the New Zealand Health Survey in the 2024/25 cycle, according to the Ministry of Health. Health NZ The most recent survey results, reported on 10 August, show 4.3 percent of adults currently living with the condition. Earlier reporting in April drew on survey data showing 9.2 percent of adults — about 401,000 people — had experienced Long Covid symptoms at some point. RNZ
The gap between those two figures reflects the difference between currently having symptoms and having had them at any stage. Either way, the survey also indicated that women, Māori and disabled adults were more likely to report having had Long Covid. One in six Māori adults (15.5 percent) reported Long Covid symptoms, and among disabled New Zealanders the rate was one in four (22.8 percent). RNZ
Freya Sawbridge, the New Zealand delegate to the World Health Organisation for Long Covid and administrator of the NZ Long Covid Group, has been advocating on the issue since at least 2022, when she described the challenges of navigating a health system with limited recognition of the condition. The Spinoff
The panel exposed clear differences in how each party frames the government's role. Ingrid Leary, speaking for Labour, said she did not accept the claim that people were exploiting the welfare system — pushing back against a narrative that has circulated in welfare-reform debates.
ACT's Todd Stephenson said it was important to make sure the taxpayer was getting good value for money in health spending. New Zealand First's Andy Foster said building understanding of Long Covid among clinicians and maintaining funding for medicines were priorities.
Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong said the party's tax policy — a universal basic income funded by a new land tax — would help support those with Long Covid.
The broader context here is that Long Covid sits at the intersection of several live policy areas: health system capacity, welfare settings, disability support eligibility, and data infrastructure. The Health Survey additions in 2024/25 mean New Zealand now has baseline population-level data for the first time, but the gap between prevalence figures and service access remains wide. Advocates are effectively arguing that the data exists to justify action; the political question is whether any party will translate that into specific commitments before the election.
The equity dimension matters too. If Māori adults are reporting Long Covid symptoms at 15.5 percent and disabled adults at 22.8 percent, any policy response will need to engage with Te Apepūrongo Matihiko (the Māori Health Authority) questions, Whaikaha disability system settings, and broader equity frameworks already operating across the health portfolio. The panel format did not produce policy commitments from any party, but it did establish that Long Covid is on the radar of at least five parliamentary parties heading into the campaign.
For Press Gallery observers, the session is notable less for any single announcement than for the coalition of advocates organising across patient support, clinical awareness, and political engagement — and for the fact that Long Covid is now being framed explicitly as a disability access issue, not just a health one.
