Investigating the case of New Zealand’s “Social Reports/ te pūrongo oranga tangata”, the core aim of this discussion paper is to contribute to answering the research question of how monitoring social well-being supports a policy agenda aimed at addressing the social determinants of health to improve health equity. Hence, this study contributes to the WHO goal for improving the dissemination of knowledge to support action on the broader determinants of population health and health equity (which we term “the social determinants of health”) - both within and outside the health and government sectors. It builds on the work of the WHO Secretariat in supporting the global Commission on Social Determinants of Health and is a contribution by New Zealand, as a country partner, to the body of knowledge on institutions and mechanisms for supporting implementation of the social determinants of health agenda in countries.