Public Health Expert

Featured image: The Smokefree 2025 Action Plan: key findings from the ITC New Zealand (EASE) project

The Smokefree 2025 Action Plan: key findings from the ITC New Zealand (EASE) project

Public Health Expert • Jul 05, 2021

Richard Edwards, Ellie Johnson, Janet Hoek, Anaru Waa, El-Shadan Tautolo, Jude Ball, James Stanley Summary This blog summarises findings from people who smoke or have recently quit smoking and who participated in the ITC New Zealand project from 2016-2021. The blog documents attitudes towards smoking and quitting, support for, and perceived impacts of, key measures included in the Smokefree … Read More

Featured image: Urgently upgrading NZ’s Covid-19 response

Urgently upgrading NZ’s Covid-19 response

Public Health Expert • Jun 24, 2021

Amanda Kvalsvig, Nick Wilson, and Michael Baker Aotearoa NZ’s effective Covid-19 elimination strategy is now threatened by the global emergence of new variants with increasingly high transmissibility. We outline the upgrades that are now urgently needed to keep New Zealanders safe, particularly in the light of the current outbreak risk in Wellington. Immediate actions include upgrading the Alert Level system … Read More

Featured image: Health co-benefits need to be adequately considered in the Climate Change Commission’s final advice

Health co-benefits need to be adequately considered in the Climate Change Commission’s final advice

Public Health Expert • Jun 21, 2021

Tim Chambers, Simon Hales, Jude Ball, Michael Baker, Cristina Cleghorn, Nick Wilson (*Author details) The Climate Change Commission’s final advice to the Government has been tabled in Parliament. This final report further acknowledged the potential health co-benefits of climate action presented in the Commission’s draft advice. However, the Commission has excluded these health co-benefits from its economic analyses, which currently … Read More

Featured image: Update on Long-COVID

Update on Long-COVID

Public Health Expert • Jun 15, 2021

Prof John D. Potter* This blog post updates an earlier post on Long-COVID and reports that estimates of prevalence are still wide at about 15 to 65% of those initially infected with the pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2. As things stand now across the world, we do not yet have systems in place to diagnose and manage the massive burden of … Read More

Featured image: A Smokefree Aotearoa Action Plan: Why this could eliminate smoking disparities for Māori

A Smokefree Aotearoa Action Plan: Why this could eliminate smoking disparities for Māori

Public Health Expert • May 28, 2021

Andrew Waa, Heather Gifford, Shane Bradbrook The recent release of the Government’s “Proposals for a Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan” (the  Plan) represents a significant step forward in how we think about tobacco control1. The Plan specifically references eliminating smoking related inequities, strengthening Māori governance and fulfilling government commitments to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as an essential part of achieving … Read More

Featured image: New Modelling on the Risk of COVID-19 Outbreaks in NZ Associated with Arriving Travellers

New Modelling on the Risk of COVID-19 Outbreaks in NZ Associated with Arriving Travellers

Public Health Expert • May 28, 2021

Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Martin Eichner*  In this blog we detailed our just published modelling work on estimating the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks associated with air travel to NZ. We find that the risks are typically very low for travel from Australia (a “green zone” country with small occasional outbreaks from border system failures). But these risks … Read More

Featured image: Illicit tobacco trade and the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Goal: Arguments and Evidence

Illicit tobacco trade and the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Goal: Arguments and Evidence

Public Health Expert • May 27, 2021

Dr Allen Gallagher, Dr Lindsay Robertson, Prof Janet Hoek, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Richard Edwards* The NZ Government has published proposals for an Action Plan to achieve the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Goal. This blog is one of a series examining key aspects of the proposals to help inform the debate and submissions. Here we examine the illicit tobacco … Read More

Featured image: Evidence supports a proposed Parliamentary Bill to reduce harm from alcohol sponsorship of sport

Evidence supports a proposed Parliamentary Bill to reduce harm from alcohol sponsorship of sport

Public Health Expert • May 26, 2021

Dr Tim Chambers, Dr Nicki Jackson, Dr Amanda Jones, Dr Jude Ball, Prof Louise Signal, Dr Moira Smith, Christina McKerchar, Prof Janet Hoek (*Author details) Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick recently announced a Member’s Bill to end alcohol sponsorship of sport, acting on recommendations by three Government-commissioned bodies and the World Health Organization. Viable sponsorship replacement models already exist and could … Read More

Featured image: How to best describe NZ’s border control problems around COVID-19 with a possible typology

How to best describe NZ’s border control problems around COVID-19 with a possible typology

Public Health Expert • May 24, 2021

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker* Particular words and phrases can frame how issues are considered and the extent to which they imply the need for a corrective response to improve system design or delivery. After considering a range of words, we consider that the phrase “border system failure” comes closest … Read More

Featured image: Nitrate contamination in drinking water and adverse birth outcomes: emerging evidence is concerning for NZ

Nitrate contamination in drinking water and adverse birth outcomes: emerging evidence is concerning for NZ

Public Health Expert • May 24, 2021

Dr Tim Chambers, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Simon Hales, Prof Michael Baker*   While there is growing evidence that nitrates in drinking water are a risk factor for bowel cancer, there is also emerging evidence concerning adverse birth outcomes such as prematurity. This blog takes a brief look at this new evidence and puts it into a NZ context. Nitrate … Read More