745 Results

  • The COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa/NZ: A brief photo-essay with 10 photos

    … is accompanied by a brief comment on the pandemic impact or response. In some instances these images reflect success … as the relatively early introduction of border controls and the stringent nature of the “lockdown”. But we also … the recent run of eight border control failures. Figure 1: Decisive science-informed government action. The …
    Briefing

  • Government struggling with evidence: HTPs, addiction levels, and Smokefree 2025

    … a measure supported by Health Minister Dr Shane Reti, and predicted to bring rapid declines in smoking. Earlier … would have substantially reduced tobacco’s addictiveness and availability. Associate Health Minister Casey Costello … which drew on arguments from a mystery document 1 and “ independent advice ” that did not in fact support the …
    Briefing

  • Limiting the size of single serve sugary drinks: New NZ study on health and cost impacts

    … internationally, due to their role in tooth decay, obesity and diabetes [1-3], their lack of beneficial nutrients, and potential … will respond. If it is only possible to buy 250mL cans or 1L bottles of soft drink at a retail outlet, what …
    Briefing

  • Good firearms law needs multiple defensive layers: The Swiss cheese model

    … an overall assessment of the effectiveness of individual and multiple combined measures designed to limit the public … Accidents happen when the holes in all the layers line up. 1 The Swiss cheese model is used for air traffic safety, 2 … safety policies: individual policies may show only small or uncertain effects, but the most restrictive set of firearm …
    Briefing

  • Reducing waiting times for cataract surgery is good value-for-money for falls prevention

    … surgery in NZ. In this blog we summarise the key findings and make comparisons with other falls prevention … on reducing falls in hospitals through the Health Quality and Safety Commission’s ‘Reducing harm from falls’ programme. … with a total wait time from first appointment with a GP or optometrist, to actually having the surgery performed, of …
    Briefing

  • Faster mortality decline – slower population ageing. How could this be?

    … aged 65 plus Have you sat in a meeting recently, or listened to the radio, where someone is invoking the aging population as a harbringer of doom and gloom due to the tsunami of older people with poor … Super, and is widely used as a definition of old age (1). Elsewhere, old age starts earlier. For instance, in its …
    Briefing

  • New study on going smokefree – major economic gains for NZ society with manageable costs for government

    … superannuation payments (due to longer lifespans) and reduced tobacco excise tax revenue (due to people … Māori:non-Māori health inequities, this law would achieve. 1 The billions of dollars of savings in health system costs … of this publication is at the journal here (paywalled), 4 or the final unformatted manuscript is freely available here …
    Briefing

  • NZ’s long-running Campylobacter epidemic from poultry: Now with antibiotic resistance

    … poultry. In this blog we briefly detail these problems and explore potential solutions: (i) build on the past NZ … the risk; and (iv) encourage consumers to switch to frozen or cooked poultry – or switch completely to other protein … infection from contaminated fresh chicken meat [ 1 ]. In addition, recently presented research on AMR has …
    Briefing

  • Smart party pill law makes tobacco & alcohol regulation look pathetic

    … pills now have stringent government-promulgated rules and processes. All but one MP voted for the new law. The … regulation of ‘party pills’, came into force on August 1 st 2013 with overwhelming support of MPs (only John Banks, … it is “a substance, mixture, preparation, article, device, or thing that is capable of inducing a psychoactive effect …
    Briefing

  • Embracing downward counterfactual analysis to navigate future cyclones

    … cyclones), worse timing, hitting Auckland directly, and poorer response by the public and authorities. This type … New Zealand (NZ). It caused an estimated 1720 injuries, 1 11 deaths, 2 damaged water infrastructure, 3 and the … analysis to look at what went well with disaster response, or what went badly (and resulted in bad outcomes), but not …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)