Tagged: Public Health

Featured image: Lessons from Canada for NZ: Carbon, Cycling, Tobacco, Nutrition and Cannabis

Lessons from Canada for NZ: Carbon, Cycling, Tobacco, Nutrition and Cannabis - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Apr 08, 2019 •

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Amanda Jones, A/Prof George Thomson Canada has a number of progressive public policies which can influence health. In this blog we briefly look at 6 potential lessons for NZ in the domains of: (i) responding to climate change; (ii) supporting cycling; (iii) tobacco control; (iv) controls on food marketing directed at children; (v) healthy food … Read More

Featured image: Vaping very likely to improve health in NZ – but how does this compare with other options?

Vaping very likely to improve health in NZ – but how does this compare with other options? - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Mar 27, 2019 •

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Frederieke Petrović-van der Deen, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, A/Prof Coral Gartner, Prof Tony Blakely Our just-published modelling study suggests that easier access to nicotine via vaping as a replacement for tobacco smoking, will improve the health of the NZ population. The estimated health gain is about the same as 10% per annum tobacco tax increases … Read More

Featured image: Otago and disagreement

Otago and disagreement - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • May 11, 2018 •

Every time I think that the University of Otago’s Public Health people can’t get any worse, they go and surprise me. Today, the Initiative launched Jenesa Jeram’s excellent report on vaping and reduced-harm alternatives to smoking. It walks through the evidence on the risks of vaping, heat-not-burn products, and snus, and makes some recommendations around liberalising access so that … Read More

Featured image: The urgency of curbing pollution from ships, explained

The urgency of curbing pollution from ships, explained - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 19, 2018 •

James J. Winebrake, Rochester Institute of Technology and James J Corbett, University of Delaware This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency that regulates global shipping, is writing new rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions from ships by 2050 as … Read More

Featured image: Sweet Relief: Eric Crampton on the Sugar Tax

Sweet Relief: Eric Crampton on the Sugar Tax - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • Mar 08, 2018 •

For the past several years, public health lobbyists have pretended that all opposition to sugar taxes is ideologically motivated or dishonest. They have argued that the only thing stopping the government from implementing their beneficent proposals has been the actions of nefarious interest groups. And so it is interesting to read what the Ministry of Health’s officials actually thought about … Read More

Featured image: UNICEF and friends VS the outspoken Anti-vaxxers

UNICEF and friends VS the outspoken Anti-vaxxers - BioBlog

Alison Campbell • Mar 07, 2018 •

Back in mid-February, UNICEF NZ posted a piece on the importance of vaccines. Shortly thereafter, the comments thread had been overrun by anti-vaccination pro-disease activists. (I have to say, I’m really impressed with the person who does UNICEF’s social media. Talk about grace and dignity under fire!) This seems to happen every time a story about vaccine-preventable disease hits the … Read More

Featured image: Why we can’t catch up with the mumps outbreak

Why we can’t catch up with the mumps outbreak - Guest Work

Guest Author • Feb 12, 2018 •

Ayesha Verrall New Zealand is in the grip of its worst mumps outbreak in decades. The outbreak started in Auckland early last year and was initially focused on five schools in the West of the city. Since then there have been over 1000 cases with some spreading to other centres around the country. Mumps causes a fever, headache, muscle … Read More

Featured image: What public health lessons can NZ still learn from the United States?

What public health lessons can NZ still learn from the United States? - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Jan 30, 2018 •

Prof Nick Wilson, A/Prof George Thomson The United States has many major health problems – including declining life expectancy and an exorbitantly expensive health care system. However, the large number of state and local governments provide a wealth of potential lessons that NZ could learn from. In this blog we briefly consider some of these, particularly in the domains of … Read More

Featured image: How climate change affects the building blocks for health

How climate change affects the building blocks for health - Guest Work

Guest Author • Oct 26, 2017 •

By Alistair Woodward, University of Auckland In August last year, a third of the residents of the North Island township Havelock North fell acutely ill with gastroenteritis after their water was contaminated with campylobacter. More intense rainfalls have caused flooding throughout New Zealand, as seen here in Northland. From www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND Following a long dry spell, … Read More