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Monthly Archives: October 2020

How to Systematically Reduce the Border Failure Risk for COVID-19 in Aotearoa/NZ

Wednesday, October 28th, 2020 | tedla55p | No Comments

Prof Nick Wilson*, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker

With the 2020 election over and with a newly elected government, it is an excellent time for a systematic review by NZ health authorities to identify optimal methods for reducing the risk of future COVID-19 outbreaks in Aotearoa/NZ. The persisting occurrence of cross-border incursions of the pandemic virus (five since 1 August, including a large outbreak in Auckland) highlights the need for such a review. In this blog we provide a framework for this systematic assessment and specific ideas for further risk reduction.

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Covid-19: A planetary disease

Wednesday, October 14th, 2020 | tedla55p | 1 Comment

Louise Delany*

This blog focuses on the underlying environmental causes of Covid-19 (Covid) and the role of international law in tackling both Covid and other planetary crises. I argue that major changes to our relationship with our planet and its creatures are needed and these changes must be supported by new international law.

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Preventing diabetes: What does the latest modelling evidence tell us about health gains and cost savings?

Wednesday, October 7th, 2020 | tedla55p | No Comments

Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Dr Leah Grout, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Prof Nick Wilson

Approximately 5.5% of NZ adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. In this blog we summarise our recent modelling work that suggests that further investment in interventions of proven effectiveness to prevent type 2 diabetes could substantially benefit health, reduce health inequalities, and save billions in health sector costs for NZ.

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Getting the Marketing Mix Right: A Commentary on NZ’s Forthcoming Vaping Regulations

Thursday, October 1st, 2020 | tedla55p | No Comments

Janet Hoek, Lindsay Robertson, Jude Ball, Richard Edwards, Anaru Waa

On August 11 2020, the NZ Parliament passed legislation that extends existing regulation of tobacco and herbal smoking products to vaping products (or electronic nicotine delivery systems [ENDS] and heated tobacco products (HTPs]. The new Act represents an important step in managing access to ENDS and HTPs, and regulating how these are marketed.  In this blog, we summarise some of the Act’s key provisions before exploring how the regulations, still to be made available for consultation, could further strengthen the Act’s ability to protect young people. We also consider how other countries considering similar legislation could extend the approach taken in NZ.

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