610 Results

  • Living longer, living healthier? Latest Official Report on independent life expectancy in NZ

    … in healthy life expectancy. This sort of analysis, as hard as it is to get right, is important – as a society we do not … for Māori at the time of Cook’s arrival, to 73.0 and 77.5 years for Māori males and females, respectively, in …
    Briefing

  • More wastewater testing could guide optimal Covid-19 control on the path back to elimination

    … This blog briefly considers the issue of wastewater testing as part of Covid-19 control in Aotearoa NZ. Our analysis … Brett Cowan, wastewater testing in NZ can typically detect 5-6 people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a population of … case out of populations ranging from 29,000 to 290,000. 3 As such, wastewater can allow “for early detection of …
    Briefing

  • Not forgetting the benefits to youth and non-smokers – an example from increases in tobacco taxes

    … the potentially large benefits to youth and non-smokers – as well as to smokers who quit. Policy-makers need to take a broad … health gains and cost-savings to the NZ health sector [5] [6] [7]. Māori are also likely to have much higher per …
    Briefing

  • An Official Inquiry into the Covid-19 Pandemic Response – It’s Time and it’s Vital

    … strategy in the earlier stages of the pandemic 4 5 allowed for relatively high Covid-19 vaccination coverage … the more intensive impact of specific sectors such as tourism and the opportunity costs. The inquiry should be forward-looking and depoliticised as much as possible So that the inquiry focuses on finding …
    Briefing

  • Low-cost heart-healthy bread for NZ

    …   Figure 1: The loaf of the left is the optimised HHB$1.5 loaf. The loaf in the middle is the optimised HHB$3 loaf … breads in 15 countries from a heart health perspective, as well as being lower cost. Such bread designs could be promoted by …
    Briefing

  • Covid recovery or sustainable transformation?

    … only do we now better recognise the shape of risks such as pandemics, environmental and financial crises built into … to be confronted. One of the most profound risk s ahead, as we recover from Covid, is climate change.   A key … according to the UN , for the world to stay within the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal. Beyond the Paris thresholds lie …
    Briefing

  • Lessons from jurisdictions that are battling their own Delta variant outbreaks

    … ways that NZ could improve its COVID-19 response, such as increasing wastewater testing, wider mask use, more … have been used in the current outbreak response, such as using region-specific Alert levels (now implemented with … its high reproduction number (R o ), estimated at between 5 and 7 [3] meaning that on average, a Delta case may infect …
    Briefing

  • Covid-19 is finishing the year on a high: We need a vigorous coordinated response

    … a large fifth pandemic wave in November-December 2023, as indicated by results of wastewater testing and … hospitalisations. The net effect is that for the year 2023 as a whole, we can expect to see approximately 1,000 deaths … mild to severe that can persist for months or years. 4,5, 6 Long Covid risk applies to all age groups, and may …
    Briefing

  • The case for denicotinising tobacco in Aotearoa NZ remains strong: response to online critique

    … legislation before Parliament, we published our findings as a pre-print while it was undergoing peer-review at an … of the policy strongly suggest it will be highly effective as the key policy to dramatically lower smoking prevalence … study. The key assertion, which underpins problems 1-5, is that the estimated impact of the denicotinisation …
    Briefing

  • “Action for Healthy Waterways”: some big ticket actions that the Government has neglected

    … of reforestation with a high carbon price.   Introduction As we recently pointed out, the health of waterways has … in addition to the MfE proposals. Taxing fertiliser as it leaves the fertiliser factory  NZ has a very high level … environment and low administrative costs of such taxes [5]. This European review “concluded that a fertilizer tax as …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)