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Ventilation in NZ schools during the Omicron wave – results from a preliminary study
… public health measure that can reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission. Last year we outlined the need for … surveillance. In this blog we provide an overview of the results of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) monitoring carried … improved indoor air quality. This new agency could be more sustainable if embedded within an existing national agency …
Briefing
Will the Health Star Rating labels improve people’s diets?
… labelling is one tool to help control the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Everyone agrees that on its own, the … Panel (NIP) used in NZ does not achieve the goal of facilitating healthier food choices. But suggestions … too much have been given away to reach a compromise? The development of this label occurred outside the usual …
Briefing
Why eliminating Covid-19 is critical: Since more waves of infection, hospitalisations and deaths are inevitable for other countries until a vaccine arrives
… approach NZ is taking); (ii) allow a sufficient proportion of the population to get infected and become immune to … called herd immunity and is estimated to be at least half of any population for Covid-19); or (iii) develop an effective vaccine, which is the ideal way of achieving herd immunity. Given a vaccine might still be a …
Briefing
Why NZ should consider adopting “mass masking” as an additional step to speed elimination of the Covid-19 pandemic
… is some suggestive laboratory and epidemiological evidence of benefit for such mask use. Since the costs of mass masking are relatively low and there are no apparent … doubt that surgical masks can be used to reduce the spread of respiratory infections [1]. In health care settings masks …
Briefing
Risk proportionate regulation of nicotine and tobacco products: More rhetoric than reality
… to the harm that they cause. However, following repeal of the previous Government’s smokefree measures, regulation … restrict the availability, appeal, and addictiveness of smoked tobacco products. At the same time, they must … Zealand. Risk proportionate regulation requires regulation of consumer products proportionate to the harm they cause …
Briefing
Does healthy food really cost more?
… on how you measure the cost. This blog post looks at some of the different metrics and suggests that we need to consider several of them to get a better understanding of this important issue. Monitoring the price of foods …
Briefing
The long shadow of war on the health of military personnel
… This blog post looks at a recently published study of the lifespan of NZ soldiers who participated in the First World War. It … in foreign military engagements. The study that a group of us published in a recent December edition of the British …
Briefing
New report shows how regional plans could transform freshwater quality
… highlights valuable and timely lessons for better ways of safeguarding and improving freshwater quality identified … next generation of regional plans, which are under development and must be completed by the end of 2024. … lakes using Overseer software, which after some years of criticism was found to be inappropriate for such regulatory …
Briefing
Where do the parties stand? Addressing Māori health inequity
… Summary We look at questions of Māori health equity in the fourth in the series “Where do … Communication Centre survey need to be seen in the context of the legislation, the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022, … recommended system-level changes that would be sustainable, lead to better and more equitable outcomes for …
Briefing
Potential new regulatory options for e-cigarettes/ANDS in NZ
… scientific evidence-base regarding the benefits and risks of these types of products remains uncertain. The health-based policy … industry should be entirely excluded from the policy development process around any further regulation of ANDS. …
Briefing

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