721 Results

  • The draft NZ Health Strategy: Will it enable New Zealanders to “live well, stay well and get well”?

    … Strategy is strong on strengthening the health care system and has some strong population health aspects, at least … stay well and get well”. The draft NZ Health Strategy (1) has a strong focus on strengthening the health care … word “alcohol”. But there are no population health goals or substantive primary prevention plans outlined for these …
    Briefing

  • Unsafe waters: The hidden Campylobacter infection risk in rural New Zealand

    … Summary While urban areas benefit from treated and regulated public water supplies, rural communities often … water sources, leading to fecal-oral transmission. 1   Waterborne disease outbreaks can occur due to various factors, such as heavy rainfall or spring runoff, improper disposal of manure, sewage, or …
    Briefing

  • Daily aspirin for preventing cancer and heart disease – where to from here in NZ?

    … published review has quantified the estimated benefits and harms of taking regular aspirin for disease prevention. … aspirin for 20 years from age 55 (using the data in Figure 1). If these lives are typically saved half way through this … for money given the cost of aspirin (typically 15 cents or less per tablet at the supermarket) – which equates to …
    Briefing

  • The humility of being second to Australia in cancer mortality

    … nothing like being second to Australia to galvanize angst and consternation among Kiwis. Today Alafeishat and colleagues have published a paper in the NZ Medical … in our health sector. This blog we canvass how bad (or good) the situation really is, the problems and possible …
    Briefing

  • Advising men on prostate cancer screening – is the cart before the horse in terms of evidence?

    … (PSA) was published in the last week in the journal JAMA .[1] This blog considers the key recent evidence relating to … vs harms.  It is not reasonable to ask individual men and clinicians to make decisions regarding PSA-based … more people there are who believe they owe their health, or even their life, to the [screening] programme ”.[3] What …
    Briefing

  • Covid-19 Case-Fatality Risk & Infection-Fatality Risk – important measures to help guide the pandemic response

    … two useful mortality indicators: Case-Fatality Risk (CFR) and Infection-Fatality Risk (IFR). We estimate the cumulative … risk (CFR; also incorrectly referred to as a rate or ratio) and infection-fatality risk (IFR). The Covid-19 CFR … based on the reported deaths and reported cases. Figure 1 shows the CFR in NZ by age group up to 4 May 2022 and …
    Briefing

  • Aotearoa’s first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza: Heightened awareness and surveillance essential for early detection

    … restricting the movement of birds, poultry products, feed and equipment. This highly pathogenic subtype likely evolved … birds. While humans can be infected with H7 subtypes, and they can cause high mortality, human infection is rare … by the NZ  Ministry for Primary Industries in 2004. 1,2 While H7 subtypes have been detected through this …
    Briefing

  • Mounting complexities in the dietary salt & health relationship

    … A large prospective study on dietary salt and health has recently been reported in the New England … was also found for low intakes of salt (i.e., a “J-shaped” or “U-shaped” relationship). This blog post considers this … to health (as outlined in two recent systematic reviews (1, 2)) has been described as strong enough to justify public …
    Briefing

  • The Smokefree Generation: Perspectives from young people

    … Aotearoa New Zealand’s Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill … the introduction of a smokefree generation policy (SFG). 1 Implementing an SFG disallows the sale of smoked tobacco products to anyone born on or after a specified date, which is proposed as 01 January …
    Briefing

  • Likely rise in invasive strep infections in NZ requires a strategy

    … A streptococcus (GAS) is a common cause of sore throats and skin infections in children. In rare cases the bacteria … person-to-person through direct contact with nose, throat or wound secretions or respiratory droplets. While some … GAS disease with an associated 500,000 deaths annually. 1 2 The focus of this article is on invasive GAS disease …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)