721 Results

  • NZ’s “Team of 5 million” has achieved the lowest COVID-19 death rate in the OECD – but there are still gaps in our pandemic response

    … rate from the COVID-19 pandemic out of 37 OECD countries and appears to be the only one to succeed with elimination at … domestic cases for over two weeks (ie, none since 2 July [1], as per 17 July).   The next most important pandemic … . There is obvious potential to learn from any breaches or near misses here and overseas. For example, one potential …
    Briefing

  • Aotearoa New Zealand’s unhealthy food environment needs more policy action

    … environment due to inaction from successive Governments and calls for this to change. Food environments influence the … 2014. Our first comprehensive assessment from 2014 to 2017 1 concluded that the food environment in NZ is largely … at all and it is worrying that each government, left or right, is doing so little about obesity and healthy …
    Briefing

  • Money down the drain: The high cost of leaking water pipes

    … infrastructure poses a threat to this basic necessity and wastes precious funds. In regions where water is metered … for contaminants to enter the system. As such “broken or leaking water mains” can cause waterborne disease … outbreaks (as reviewed for the United States setting 1 ). One such outbreak from broken water mains resulted in …
    Briefing

  • Covid-19: A planetary disease

    … on the underlying environmental causes of Covid-19 (Covid) and the role of international law in tackling both Covid and … infected us did not come to us; we went to seek them out.’ 1 Human beings have suffered from diseases arising from … of the percentage of zoonotic diseases in relation to new or re-emerging infectious diseases vary between 65% to nearly …
    Briefing

  • What we would like to see on the Ministry of Health’s website to better inform progress on COVID-19 elimination

    … data from the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 website and display a key graph that we think should be routinely on … NZ, belong to one of two broad groups: infected overseas or infected within NZ. The Ministry of Health (MoH) provides … status         Cases linked to imported infections 1 Aircrew or airport staff, ship crews or seaport staff …
    Briefing

  • Public health and Budget 2024

    … 2024 emphasises tax cuts, funded by spending reductions and increased borrowing, amid a recession. This situation … results within timeframes for which they can take credit. 1 This has led to health being predominantly the domain of … course is that $173,000 is not currently available today (or in a programme over say a decade) to avoid future costs. …
    Briefing

  • Avoidable hospitalisations: Helping our health system get through COVID-19

    … are sick – including many urgently hospitalised. 1 Better resilience for our health system in the face of … injuries that currently take a toll on hospital and health resources. These include those caused by alcohol, … Increased alcohol prices, reduced sales hours, and reduced or banned advertising of alcohol would make significant and …
    Briefing

  • Junk food and sugar-sweetened beverage taxes: Likely to produce numerous benefits in NZ

    … Poor diet is a major risk factor for excess weight gain and obesity-related diseases, including cardiovascular … is an important driver of the global obesity epidemic.[1-4] Moreover, both poor diet and obesity are major risk … of jurisdictions have also implemented taxes on junk food or other products. For example, in addition to an excise tax …
    Briefing

  • Earth Overshoot Day: Should Aotearoa New Zealand be more like Uruguay?

    … projected to fall on 30 July, showing we would need around 1.8 Earths to sustain current patterns of consumption in the … a vivid communication tool, it simplifies complex systems and doesn't fully capture issues like biodiversity loss and pollution other than that from carbon (CO 2 ). Despite …
    Briefing

  • Reducing tobacco retail availability: how could this be achieved and what evidence supports the NZ Government’s proposals?

    … key aspects of the plan to help inform the debate and submissions. Here we examine the proposals to reduce the … retailers is associated with higher odds of youth smoking [1, 2], increased smoking among established smokers [3], and … a large reduction in tobacco retailers (by 90 or 95%) is required to drive up the ‘full cost’ of tobacco …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)