635 Results

  • An upgraded Alert Level 2 is urgently needed to address the Delta Variant threat

    … in early 2020, but the Covid-19 landscape has changed, and the system must be updated to address the threat of the … quickly implemented intense lockdowns (whether regional or nationwide) can be effective in dealing with Delta variant … reduce infections, hospitalisations, and deaths [1], but population-level immunity will be limited by the …
    Briefing

  • Evidence for free school lunches: The bigger picture benefits

    … support Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the Healthy School Lunch Programme and wants to reduce spending by half. The programme received … extend what is already known locally about Ka Ora, Ka Ako. 1  The outcomes and potential impacts of Ka Ora, Ka Ako … noting no improvement in either school performance or attendance. 2 However, changes in school performance have …
    Briefing

  • Public Health Solutions Series: Mental health services can’t solve a mental health crisis: public mental health priorities in Aotearoa

    … benefit levels, increasing physical activity, drug and alcohol legislation reform and employment support for those with mental illness.  This … does not lessen population levels of mental health need or psychological distress . Here we present four …
    Briefing

  • Public Health Solutions Series: Public policy options to address alcohol-related harm in Aotearoa

    … harm through policies on alcohol tax, availability and marketing.   This blog is part of the Public Health … higher than the annual alcohol tax revenue of around $1.1 billion .   Despite multiple Government reviews and … trading hours for off-licence outlets (eg, supermarkets or liquor stores) are from 7am to 11pm, a total of 112 hours …
    Briefing

  • Transport, carbon emission reduction and health- the possibility of a virtuous circle?

    … Dr Caroline Shaw and Associate Professor Simon Hales Editor note: In this Blog, Caroline Shaw and Simon Hales reflect on the weak evidence on health … our (expanding) bodies*. These decisions can be explicit or implicit; however the systematic favouring of cars in …
    Briefing

  • New standardised packaging regulations: Some good steps, but many missed opportunities

    … This blog discusses changes that establish a new benchmark and why these are important, but also examines how the … they develop their standardised packaging policies. Plain (or standardised) packaging has been in place in Australia … this heavily promoted adverse outcome has not eventuated. 1 2 Instead, predicted outcomes have emerged even earlier …
    Briefing

  • Evidence for free school lunches: Are they worth investing in?

    … benefit; undertaking a formal cost-effectiveness study; and building in more environmental sustainability.  Value for … how well resources are used and how much value is created. 1 We gathered inputs from community and government … achieving the desired outcomes/values?) Ka Ora, Ka Ako met or exceeded expectations for its primary outcomes. Students …
    Briefing

  • Eliminate the pandemic virus causing COVID-19 or risk an animal reservoir

    … Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not … th February 2020. With strong and heeded scientific input 1-4 under effective leadership and with widespread consent … have largely ignored the elimination option and chosen – or stumbled into – other approaches. The nature of this …
    Briefing

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

    … societal services that are critical for the prevention and management of Covid-19. Tax is the way we all share our … have become less progressive than they were in the 1980s. 1 As a flat tax, GST takes a bigger chunk out of the incomes … also the extent to which inequalities may be addressed – or conversely exacerbated. Tax is therefore a health …
    Briefing

  • The need for a robust scientific definition for the elimination of COVID-19 from New Zealand

    … objectively verifiable, with appropriate levels of testing and surveillance systems in place. It should ideally be … incidence of infection caused by a specific agent…” [1]. The global eradication of smallpox was declared in the … [2]. Maintaining the elimination of a disease in a country or region requires continued preventive measures. NZ has …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)