Public Health Expert

By Dr Amber Pearson, Frederieke Sanne van der Deen, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Dr Nhung Nghiem, Prof Tony Blakely, Prof Nick Wilson We have just published research on the health gains and cost-savings from various legally mandated restrictions on tobacco retail outlets. In this blog, we briefly consider the results and put the findings in a wider context of … Read More

Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Janet Hoek, A/Prof George Thomson, Prof Richard Edwards The NZ Ministry of Health is currently reviewing public submissions on options that would allow nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to be sold legally in NZ. This consultation raises questions about how the wider uptake of e-cigarette use (known as “vaping”) will be managed. In this blog, we consider arguments … Read More

2

Prof Alistair Woodward, A/Prof Simon Hales An Independent Inquiry is now investigating the cause of the water-borne outbreak caused by Campylobacter in Havelock North. In this blog we consider the background to this issue and argue the Inquiry must not miss the opportunity to think up-stream, on the scale of water catchments, agricultural economies and climate systems. “Alarming new … Read More

4

By Professor Janet Hoek, Professor Karine Gallopel-Morvan, Professor Richard Edwards, Professor Tony Blakely New Zealand’s Smokefree 2025 goal is now less than ten years away but we are unlikely to achieve this world-leading goal unless the Government introduces innovative new policies that reduce smoking prevalence (1). Existing measures have tackled different facets of tobacco marketing, with plain packaging reducing a … Read More

Professor Nick Wilson, Professor Janet Hoek, Frederieke Sanne van der Deen, Associate Professor George Thomson, Professor Richard Edwards The NZ Ministry of Health is currently consulting on options around making nicotine-containing e-cigarettes available in NZ. This Perspective Blog briefly examines possible pros and cons of two plausible licensed retail options: pharmacies and vape shops. It also highlights … Read More

6 2

Dr Caroline Shaw, Dr Marie Russell On-road cycle lane Wellington. Photo credit: Jenny Ombler. Active transport is important for health and sustainability. But no one has previously looked systematically at how NZ cities support cycling and walking. Therefore, a new study has been performed and is now published online. This blog reports its main findings. Walking and cycling for … Read More

1

By Prof Richard Edwards The hardening hypothesis suggests that as smoking prevalence declines, the remaining smokers will be the more addicted ones who are less likely to quit. But does the NZ evidence support this? This blog considers these issues and explores the potential implications for achieving NZ’s Smokefree 2025 goal. The ‘hardening hypothesis’ emerged in the 1980s and proposed … Read More

2 1

By Professor Nick Wilson The Government deserves congratulations for coming up with a Health Research Strategy. But the current Discussion Document needs a firmer strategic outlook with greater coherence. In this Perspective Blog a simple SWOT analysis is conducted and an alternative Vision Statement is proposed. It makes a lot of sense for a country to have a health … Read More

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Coral Gartner, Prof Richard Edwards This blog considers recent studies in which the biomarker levels in e-cigarette users (vapers) are compared to those from tobacco smokers. The results are highly variable but all suggest lower levels of risk to vapers relative to tobacco smokers. Yet as the situation with vaping is very dynamic (new products, changing … Read More

By Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Giorgi Kvizhinadze, Dr Eamonn Deverall, Prof Tony Blakely A just published modelling study by the BODE3 Team has reported that “home safety assessment and modification” (e.g., adding hand rails and removing tripping hazards in homes) appears to be a very cost-effective health sector intervention. But even more cost-effective was targeting this intervention to older people … Read More

1