624 Results

  • The UK Government shows leadership with a Soft Drink Tax announcement

    … utility for changing New Zealand’s obesogenic environment. NZ adults consume approximately 29 teaspoons of sugar per … daily energy (about 12 teaspoons of sugar). Furthermore, NZ has the third highest rate of obesity in the OECD and many … translates to a 25p (53c) per litre tax; which (for a NZ$2.50 1L bottle) would be a ~21% price increase if …
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  • Perspective: Options for licensed retailing of nicotine-containing E-Cigarettes in NZ

    … The NZ Ministry of Health is currently consulting on options … making nicotine-containing e-cigarettes available in NZ. Therefore, this Perspective Blog briefly examines … for a very well-considered approach, given consecutive NZ Governments’ poor track record in making policy to …
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  • Testing for COVID-19 in NZ to achieve the elimination goal

    … with sewage testing. Along with a few Asian countries, NZ has adopted an elimination strategy towards the COVID-19 … pandemic (as some of us just recently detailed in a NZ Medical Journal Editorial [1]). We have been fortunate in … by scientific advice and modelling work [2]. While NZ had initially been relatively slow to scale up testing …
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  • Prevention and treatment of mental disorders will help reduce dementia

    … health challenges are rising in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), yet unmet need for services has also grown, highlighting … increases steeply with age. As the Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) population ages, the number of people with dementia is … with poverty and social disadvantage. Authors details  Dr ‘Etuini Ma’u, Department of Psychological Medicine, …
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  • Children and young people and COVID-19: The urgent need for improved guidance in NZ

    … large number of cases in young age-groups during NZ’s second outbreak (Figure 1). At the time of writing (26 … cases) and Outbreak 2 (August; 108 cases). Data from the NZ Ministry of Health. Changing evidence about COVID-19 risks … disease outbreaks are always shaped by context. Because NZ rapidly eliminated COVID-19 initially, we have very little …
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  • NZ’s Environmental Protection Authority in a muddle over weed killer

    … by comments made by the Chief Scientist for the Authority, Dr Jacqueline Rowarth. Her attempt to justify what happened … instead commissioned its own report. This was written by Dr Wayne Temple, a toxicologist and formerly Director of the … : * Bruning and Browning note particularly that the NZ EPA report considers just “glyphosate chemistry and not …
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  • The hardening hypothesis for smoking – but does the evidence point to “softening” in NZ?

    … addicted ones who are less likely to quit. But does the NZ evidence support this? This blog considers these issues … and explores the potential implications for achieving NZ’s Smokefree 2025 goal.   The ‘hardening hypothesis’ … 1. Al-Delaimy WK, Pierce JP, Messer K, White MM, Trinidad DR, Gilpin EA. The California Tobacco Control Program’s …
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  • Is Keytruda for advanced melanoma cost-effective? Applying the BODE3 rapid cost effectiveness calculator

    … – the current ‘best’ treatment (that is not funded in NZ either). The evidence on the effectiveness of … does make an analysis of likely cost-effectiveness in the NZ setting a bit tricky, as our comparator would be yet … most importantly, pembrolizumab is expensive (maybe about NZ$200,000 per course). And there are other similar drugs …
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  • Longer-term harm from Covid-19 in children: The evidence suggests greater efforts are needed to protect children in Aotearoa NZ from infection

    … need for a precautionary approach in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) with greater efforts to prevent children from being … SARS-CoV-2 infections in different US states. 14 In NZ, it is currently still too early in the Omicron wave for … before we can quantify the likely impact in Aotearoa NZ. However, as an indication of the potential scale of …
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  • A Smokefree Aotearoa – could taking the nicotine out of smoked tobacco products help us get there?

    … that was published in April this year. In April 2021, the NZ Government published an Action Plan Discussion Document … are the only smoked tobacco products available for sale in NZ. A previous blog explored the potential advantages and … – particularly for Māori. * Author details: Nick Wilson, Janet Hoek, Nhung Nghiem, Jennifer Summers, Leah Grout and …
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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)