Public Health Expert

Australia’s Quarantine Systems Failures: Lessons for NZ

Public Health Expert • May 12, 2021

• border,
• COVID-19,
• MIQ,
• New Zealand stories,
• quarantine

Dr Leah Grout, Ameera Katar, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Nick Wilson (*Author details) Aotearoa NZ and Australian states have successfully eliminated community transmission of COVID-19, albeit with occasional outbreaks from imported cases. Both countries have primarily used hotel-based quarantine for returning travellers, but still do not have optimal border control. In this blog we consider potential lessons from … Read More

Reducing tobacco retail availability: counterarguments to industry claims

Public Health Expert • May 10, 2021

• aotearoa smokefree 2025,
• New Zealand stories,
• Public Health,
• smokefree

Lindsay Robertson, Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, George Thomson, Louise Marsh (*Author details) The NZ Government’s Discussion Document outlines an Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal and proposes substantially reducing the number of retailers selling tobacco. In this blog, we examine arguments that interest groups have advanced to oppose these proposals and review the evidence relating … Read More

Reducing tobacco retail availability: how could this be achieved and what evidence supports the NZ Government’s proposals?

Public Health Expert • May 06, 2021

• aotearoa smokefree 2025,
• New Zealand stories,
• Public Health,
• smokefree

Lindsay Robertson, Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Frederieke Petrović-van der Deen, George Thomson, Louise Marsh (*Author details) The NZ Government has published a Discussion Document outlining an Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal. This blog is one of a series examining key aspects of the plan to help inform the debate and submissions. Here we examine the proposals … Read More

Improving NZ Government Communication about COVID-19: Five Suggestions Including a Proposal for Depoliticisation

Public Health Expert • May 03, 2021

• communication,
• COVID-19,
• New Zealand stories,
• science communication

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Leah Grout, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig The high quality communication by the NZ Government for much of the COVID-19 pandemic has been remarked on. But given that the pandemic situation is very far from over, in this blog we consider five areas in which potential improvements could be made. Potentially the most important of … Read More

Reducing nicotine in smoked tobacco products: A pivotal feature of the proposals for achieving Smokefree Aotearoa 2025

Public Health Expert • Apr 30, 2021

• New Zealand stories,
• Public Health,
• smokefree,
• Smokefree Aotearoa 2025

Richard Edwards, Janet Hoek, Nick Wilson, Chris Bullen * The NZ Government has published a discussion document outlining an Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal and has invited submissions on its proposals. This blog is one of a series examining key aspects of the plan to help inform the debate and submissions. Here we examine the proposal to … Read More

Smokefree outdoor areas: A missing part of Government’s new Smokefree 2025 proposals

Public Health Expert • Apr 22, 2021

• aotearoa smokefree 2025,
• New Zealand stories,
• Public Health

George Thomson, Nick Wilson (ASPIRE2025) Smokefree outdoor areas are not ‘business-as-usual’ for New Zealand. Current efforts for such areas are rarely backed by law. Smokers trying to quit need places where being smokefree is normal, and in particular, they need smokefree outdoor hospitality areas. Aotearoa is far behind many jurisdictions in helping smokers in this way. There is strong public … Read More

Progress towards a Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan: Congratulations to the Government

Public Health Expert • Apr 16, 2021

• aotearoa smokefree 2025,
• New Zealand stories,
• smokefree

Richard Edwards, Janet Hoek, Anaru Waa, George Thomson, Nick Wilson (author details*) We congratulate the NZ Government on its proposed Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal. Here we examine the evidence for three key ideas outlined in the plan: permitting tobacco products to be sold in only a small number of stores; reducing the nicotine in … Read More

More Evidence that Elimination is the Best COVID-19 Control Strategy for Health and the Economy

Public Health Expert • Apr 12, 2021

• COVID-19,
• elimination,
• health data,
• New Zealand stories

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael Baker In this blog we briefly consider a new Report from a European think tank that aims to identify an optimal COVID-19 response strategy. It considers mortality data, GDP impacts, and mobility data and suggests that COVID-19 elimination appears to be superior to mitigation/suppression strategies in health and economic terms. Nevertheless, more … Read More

Charting our way back to normal

Public Health Expert • Apr 08, 2021

• Australia,
• COVID-19,
• modelling,
• Pandemic,
• policy

By Professor Tony Blakely, Dr Tim Wilson, Luke Thorburn and Professor Nathan Grills, University of Melbourne A new web tool, COVID-19 Pandemic Trade-offs, allows people to weigh the costs and benefits of different policy responses as Australia rolls out vaccines and considers opening borders. See here for an associated explanatory video. Article reproduced with permission from Pursuit  The … Read More

To ensure success of the trans-Tasman travel “green zone”, we need to reduce system failures at the NZ border

Public Health Expert • Mar 30, 2021

• border,
• COVID-19,
• MIQ,
• Pandemic

Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson While succeeding very well with its elimination strategy, NZ still does not have optimal border control. We find since July 2020 there have been 13 identified border failures and at least 6 internal MIQ facility failures. The forthcoming quarantine-free “green zone” between NZ and Australia … Read More