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665 Results

  • The cost burden of excess weight in New Zealand: Sizing up a new report

    … results show a substantial up-tick in both childhood and adult obesity prevalence after plateauing for a decade. This is of great concern and it makes a new report from the Sapere Research Group on … that society would put on premature death, disability or loss of quality of life attributed to the condition …
    Briefing
  • Taxing sugary drinks: Empirical findings out of Mexico

    … of taxing sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) in Mexico (1). This study reported that the 10% tax on SSBs was associated with an overall 12% reduction in purchases and a 4% increase in purchases of untaxed beverages one year … drinks such as diet fizzy drinks; sparkling, still, or plain water; and other drinks, including unsweetened dairy …
    Briefing
  • Can we manage dual use of smoking and vaping more effectively?

    … to smoke. We recently probed this perplexing ambiguity and explored dual use of cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) [1]. In this blog, we summarise our findings and consider … a cigarette at key moments, such as when drinking coffee or alcohol, or when under stress. Although most participants …
    Briefing
  • Proposed Emissions Reduction Plan: A weak response to a weak target

    … reducing emissions. It relies instead on emissions trading and technological advances, the latter of which are highly … efforts to reduce the impact of climate change. 1 The NDC, endorsed by successive NZ Governments, relies on … international commitments under the NDC. Given a petrol or diesel vehicle purchased today will produce emissions over …
    Briefing
  • The hardening hypothesis for smoking – but does the evidence point to “softening” in NZ?

    … NZ evidence support this? This blog considers these issues and explores the potential implications for achieving NZ’s … the remaining smokers will increasingly be ‘hard-core’ or ‘hardened’, with higher nicotine dependence and less … surveys have generally found no evidence of hardening (1-11). The most recent international evidence comes from a …
    Briefing
  • Increasing whooping cough cases put pēpi at risk. What can be done about it?

    … pēpi (infants) are the most vulnerable to severe illness and death.  We recommend two key priority areas to reduce the … evidence-based patient-facing immunisation information; and enabling Lead Maternity Carers (LMCs) to deliver … pertussis under the age of 12 months are hospitalised. 1 2 Unimmunised pēpi  are the most vulnerable to severe …
    Briefing
  • Taxes on fizzy drinks in NZ: preventing premature deaths and raising funds for health

    … the health impact of interventions that are upstream and are political.  In the food environment, we strongly … Indeed, much international research supports this (e.g. [ 1 ]).  Today some of us have published research in the NZ … but also the consumption of foods that are complements or substitutes.[ 2 3 ] Thus there is some level of …
    Briefing
  • The draft NZ Health Strategy: Will it enable New Zealanders to “live well, stay well and get well”?

    … Strategy is strong on strengthening the health care system and has some strong population health aspects, at least … stay well and get well”. The draft NZ Health Strategy (1) has a strong focus on strengthening the health care … word “alcohol”. But there are no population health goals or substantive primary prevention plans outlined for these …
    Briefing
  • Daily aspirin for preventing cancer and heart disease – where to from here in NZ?

    … published review has quantified the estimated benefits and harms of taking regular aspirin for disease prevention. … aspirin for 20 years from age 55 (using the data in Figure 1). If these lives are typically saved half way through this … for money given the cost of aspirin (typically 15 cents or less per tablet at the supermarket) – which equates to …
    Briefing
  • The humility of being second to Australia in cancer mortality

    … nothing like being second to Australia to galvanize angst and consternation among Kiwis. Today Alafeishat and colleagues have published a paper in the NZ Medical … in our health sector. This blog we canvass how bad (or good) the situation really is, the problems and possible …
    Briefing

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