662 Results

  • Ethnic inequalities in mortality in NZ and how to reduce them further

    … In a study we just published , we found that whilst there have … highest percentage falls (see the Figure below). Note: You can check out all the data above, and make your own versions … so for Māori females. Some favourable progress – but what can still be done? While the decline in all-cause mortality …
    Briefing

  • Smart party pill law makes tobacco & alcohol regulation look pathetic

    … ticket regulatory treatment. The promise is that if such a wide parliamentary consensus can be achieved on party pills, proportionate action on … drug. Both are chemical substances that cross the blood–brain barrier and act primarily upon the central …
    Briefing

  • A preventable measles epidemic: Lessons for reforming public health in NZ

    … the largest we have experienced in the last 40 years. It can be linked to the problems created by long-term erosion … population health threats. We argue for consolidating a range of dispersed public health activities into a strong … and sustained over time, to build infrastructure that can continue to improve the length and quality of people’s …
    Briefing

  • The science is certain: masks work. Policy and practice must support their use

    … Summary A new comprehensive evidence review has concluded that masks … Identifying situations and settings where mask wearing can have substantial protective effects during winter 2024 … more effective at reducing infection risk and they can be re-used several times, reducing environmental waste. …
    Briefing

  • Dietary counselling – how effective and cost-effective is it?

    … and cost-effectiveness of dietary counselling as a health intervention. Most studies suggest that dietary … What does the most recent evidence in major reviews show? A systematic review by Patnode et al published in 2017 … narrative review concluded that primary care physicians can be effective in delivering weight loss counseling, …
    Briefing

  • The Omicron waves – Comparing Aotearoa NZ and Australia in four key graphs

    … experience of the first Omicron wave is more severe, with a higher hospitalisation rate. We recommend that the NZ Government does more to prepare for a possible second Omicron wave (as in Australia) and for … variations to the timing of peaks). What the data also show is that Australia is experiencing its second Omicron …
    Briefing

  • The alarms are flashing red: Five reasons to upgrade our Alert Level system before the next Covid-positive traveller visits a major city

    … us from outbreaks, avoid lockdowns, help us transition to a post-vaccination future, support prevention of other … values of Indigenous peoples’ 1 we describe actions that can be taken to address several warning signals about gaps in … of the Alert Level system to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks can thus potentially deliver multiple co-benefits for …
    Briefing

  • Covid-19 was no black swan, but a paradigmatic black elephant

    … to drive this point home, I noted in the news today that a resident of Westport (a New Zealand town flooded by a ‘1 in … the processes of governance themselves. These processes can become stuck through entrenchment, inertia, historical … weaknesses including groupthink and confirmation bias that can impair decision-making or critical thinking of an …
    Briefing

  • Tax policy as a key health determinant: Reform for the Covid-19 reset

    … is the way we all share our resources in contributing to a healthy, decent and just society. Tax reform options should … become less progressive than they were in the 1980s. 1 As a flat tax, GST takes a bigger chunk out of the incomes of … and sufficient resources through tax investment. There can be no return to the ways things were: a ‘new normal’ must …
    Briefing

  • Likely rise in invasive strep infections in NZ requires a strategy

    … Summary Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a common cause of sore throats and … skin infections in children. In rare cases the bacteria can invade deeper into the body, causing severe, … throats, skin infections), invasive disease (including blood poisoning; pneumonia; necrotizing fasciitis, AKA …
    Briefing

Subscribe

Briefing CTA

Public Health Expert Briefing

Get the latest insights from the public health research community delivered straight to your inbox for free. Subscribe to stay up to date with the latest research, analysis and commentary from the Public Health Expert Briefing.

PHCC logo PHCC

The PHCC is funded by a philanthropic endowment from the Gama Foundation and hosted by the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.

Contact

Email phcc@phcc.org.nz
43 Hanson Street, Mt Cook, 
Wellington | Te Whanganui-a-Tara
PO Box 7343, Wellington South 6242
New Zealand | Aotearoa

 

Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)