721 Results

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

    … scenario given the high infectiousness of this variant and the emerging evidence that vaccines may be less effective … use, more targeted vaccinations, a revised pandemic plan [1] , revisions to the Alert Levels and improvements to … people (much higher than the original strain R o =2.79 [3] or even the Alpha variant with R o =4-5 ). To put this into …
    Briefing

  • The case for banning cigarette filters

    … out a perceptive vision for reducing smoking prevalence and ensuring that, once the goal is reached, future … below). As the harms of smoking became well-established, 1 2 filters’ role as a potential “reduced risk” tool … tobacco companies introduced filter ventilation; vents, or small perforations around the filter to make “dragging” …
    Briefing

  • Proposals to reduce youth vaping: Important steps but a more comprehensive approach needed

    … of the consultation process  to denicotinise cigarettes and reduce the number of stores selling tobacco, Associate … right to protection from highly addictive products? 1  To address this question, we first explore the strategies … known colloquially as the “4Ps”; 2  these include  place  (or availability);  product  design;  promotion , and  price . …
    Briefing

  • Social Marketing for Smokefree Aotearoa 2025: Reminding, Reinforcing, and Changing Social Norms

    … role for social marketing. Social marketing can facilitate and reinforce population-level behaviour change introduced by … supportive environments that support behaviour change. 1 2  Fourth, social marketing can create opportunities to … behavioural tips, such as putting cigarettes out of sight or focussing on alternative stimuli, such as music. The …
    Briefing

  • Rebuilding Aotearoa’s statistical foundation: Toward fairer outcomes for Pacific Peoples

    … official statistics, distorting population estimates and undermining equity in health, services, and resource … distribution, and meeting international obligations. 1,2,3,4 Yet in Aotearoa New Zealand, Pacific peoples are … Aotearoa. Pacific communities are regularly undercounted or misclassified, weakening census quality and survey …
    Briefing

  • Covid-19 Hospitalisations Now Peaking in Aotearoa NZ – But Key Covid-19 Control Measures Still Need to be Maintained

    … the country. To date, the peak burden of hospitalisations and ICU admissions in NZ has been lower than the peaks in … – 20 March. The peaks for people in intensive care (IDU or High Dependency Units) and daily deaths may also be yet to … related to inadequate vaccination of the older population [1]. As with all measures of Covid-19 epidemiology, it is …
    Briefing

  • Would a sugary fizzy drink tax reduce health inequalities? Probably Yes

    … A possible tax on sweetened sugary beverages (SSBs, and in particular sugary carbonated soft drinks) is topical … on health as, say, reduction of salt in processed food or food reformulation to reduce sugar and satur The NZMA in … of SSB Tax Imagine (not unrealistically) the following: 1. As a percentage of total energy intake, SSBs make up a …
    Briefing

  • When can COVID-19 be Declared Eliminated from NZ? New Modelling Study

    … In it we estimated that it would take between 27 and 33 days of no new detected cases of COVID-19 for there to … for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic virus that causes COVID-19. 1 In Australia, such a goal has been discussed as a potential … never had cases of COVID-19 and for whom NZ is the main or only air-traffic transit hub (eg, Samoa, Tonga, Cook …
    Briefing

  • Improving our pandemic preparedness: Counterfactuals and continuous quality improvement

    … future. One approach is to think about strategic decisions and their counterfactuals. That means comparing our … favouring elimination for pandemics that have similar or greater clinical severity to Covid-19. We can also draw on … what might have happened if NZ had taken a different path. 1 Rather than imagining a world without the pandemic, a more …
    Briefing

  • Monitoring CO2 indoors for improving ventilation as a Covid-19 control tool

    … for estimating the level of ventilation in a building and to guide ventilation improvements in schools and … states that the virus can spread in “poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor settings”. This is also the case with the … contact with contaminated surfaces (fomite transmission) [1]. While droplets fall to the ground, aerosols can float in …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)