610 Results

  • Reducing waiting times for cataract surgery is good value-for-money for falls prevention

    … Expedited cataract surgery Cataracts tend to develop as we age and are the most common cause of impaired vision. … we have modelled, expediting cataract surgery is not quite as cost-effective as strength and balance exercise programmes or home safety …
    Briefing

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

    … taken to reduce the spread of respiratory diseases, such as school and work closures, border restrictions, masking, … higher than pre-pandemic levels. 4 They included the US, 5 France, Netherlands, 6 Sweden, Spain, 7 Northern Ireland, … Invasive GAS is not currently a notifiable disease in NZ. As such, data on the epidemiology of infections is patchy. We …
    Briefing

  • Being forced to leave your rental home can harm health

    … the New Zealand legal definition and we are using the term as it used in the international literature ie, to refer also to informal evictions such as tenants’ being given notice or a fixed-term contract … homely’ (Kelly; note that all names are pseudonyms). As Jonny explained ‘I really found my feet here, you know’. …
    Briefing

  • Urgently upgrading NZ’s Covid-19 response

    … is not indicated, in particular a lack of measures such as mask-wearing and improved ventilation to prevent airborne … spread. We have previously advocated for adoption of masks as a ‘nose and mouth’ lockdown that can prevent a ‘full body … where masks are required in transport and health settings as above, and also in indoor workplaces, secondary schools …
    Briefing

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

    … become less progressive than they were in the 1980s. 1 As a flat tax, GST takes a bigger chunk out of the incomes of … inequalities (for example in some rural communities); 5 and the likelihood that pending job losses will … better tax revenue. NZ’s current tax policy NZ’s tax take as a percentage of GDP is less than the OECD average (NZ’s …
    Briefing

  • Public Health Solutions Series: Achieving a Smokefree Aotearoa

    … policy , a third key measure in the Smokefree Bill, as its impact will be more long term.   This blog is part of … disease and so health service utilisation and costs fall as smoking prevalence declines. Hence, achieving the Smokefree Aotearoa goal of below 5% smoking prevalence among all peoples will substantially …
    Briefing

  • Wellbeing in public housing vs. private rentals: Quality and security make the difference

    … than 24 thousand households in Aotearoa NZ are assessed as being in serious housing need. Many of these households … according to two measures of subjective wellbeing: the WHO-5 mental wellbeing scale and an evaluative measure of life … eligible for the income-related rent subsidy.    Second, as length of tenure increases, the divergence in wellbeing …
    Briefing

  • Despite improved WHO regulations, the world remains ill-prepared for the next pandemic

    … these changes are insufficient on their own. Especially as the risk of another pandemic like Covid-19 is growing.  … greater preparedness, and additional competencies such as risk communication and managing misinformation and … giving time to roll out vaccines and other interventions. 5 Such measures protected both high-income islands (Aotearoa …
    Briefing

  • Using the CovidCard to enhance protection from COVID-19 at the NZ border

    … type of approach is already used in hospitals in Singapore as part of epidemic response protocols (Tan et al, 2020). … CovidCard data would supplement existing processes – such as genomic testing – but it is likely to greatly reduce the … These tools include electronic bracelets for guests (as in Hong Kong) and digital technologies that might detect …
    Briefing

  • Glass half full: Alcohol’s health benefits for cardiovascular disease still controversial, and likely vary by context

    … with risk of death is shown below in our stylised graph as the blue line. Abstinence confers medium risk of death, … loss of 54,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; 5.6% of health loss from all causes). However, alcohol use … coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease (CVD), as expected. And there is serious harm from high alcohol …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)