What could we do, and what should we not do, to improve public health? This Blog has postings from public health experts on issues such as efficiency, equity, interventions, politics, cost effectiveness and much more.
Thursday, September 12th, 2013 | TONY BLAKELY | 5 Comments
Professor Tony Blakely
Everyone knows that lower socioeconomic groups are more likely to smoke. But why? Is it because of things like less education or more deprivation actually causing you to smoke? Or is it other correlated things like personality? The answer to these questions matter, both for tobacco control policy and political debate. Moreover, not all is as you might expect, and it differs for deprivation and income. Continue reading
Monday, September 9th, 2013 | TONY BLAKELY | 9 Comments
Professor Tony Blakely
A New Zealand randomized trial of e-cigarettes just published in the prestigious Lancet journal has been touted in the media as showing how good e-cigarettes are for people wanting to quit smoking. This is overstating the study findings. And to be fair to the authors, overstating their conclusions too.
So what did the study find? No statistically significant difference in abstinence at 6 months.
Monday, September 2nd, 2013 | TONY BLAKELY | 2 Comments
Dedicated cancer care coordinators – a clinical nurse specialist charged with navigating patients through their care – appears t
o be cost effective, at least for stage III colon cancer.
The Government’s 2012 Budget included $33 million for “better and faster” services for cancer patients, of which $16 million dollars was for care coordination nurses. This all seems sensible, in that the immediate and net cost of cancer care coordinators may be negligible – putting in place coordinators frees up other staff to do other things as we show in a publication last week in the NZ Medical Journal. Continue reading
Thursday, August 22nd, 2013 | TONY BLAKELY | 4 Comments
Professor Tony Blakely, Associate Professor Nick Wilson, Dr Helen Eyles
Ever tried to convince your colleagues, kids or even spouse that some food is unhealthy crap? It would be so much easier if food labels were easy to read and simple to understand. Continue reading
Saturday, August 17th, 2013 | TONY BLAKELY | 2 Comments
Associate Professor Nick Wilson
There is no doubt that earthquakes have historically had a terrible impact on human populations – and the shocking damage to Christchurch and its citizens in 2011 is still very much in the minds of New Zealanders. But living in shaky Wellington, makes one regularly wonder what might be the potential long-term benefits of earthquakes for public health. So here are a few examples relating to urban design and building design, disaster preparedness, and increased use of stairs over lifts. Continue reading