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.
Monday, June 29th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 3 Comments
Professor Tony Blakely, Associate Professor Diana Sarfati
In this blog post we look at a new modelling study on bowel cancer screening, published in a top US journal (JAMA). We discuss the cost-effectiveness of such screening and consider the current NZ context for bowel cancer screening.
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 | Kate Sloane | No Comments
Nick Wilson, George Thomson, Paul Blaschke (University of Otago, Wellington)
Recent flooding events in New Zealand should make us think about the adverse public health and economic impacts. This blog post considers these issues, and suggests that there may be scope for further preventive action by central and local government so as to better reduce the health and economic impacts of flooding disasters.
Monday, May 25th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 24 Comments
By a group of nine academic tobacco/nicotine researchers*
E-cigarette usage is growing in NZ and around the world but the scientific evidence-base regarding the benefits and risks of these types of products remains uncertain. The health-based policy experience is also minimal. In this blog post we outline some of the possible regulatory options around e-cigarettes (alternative nicotine delivery systems – ANDS) that the NZ Government could explore and that further NZ based research could help clarify.
Thursday, May 21st, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 3 Comments
Professor Alistair Woodward and Professor Tony Blakely
SNZ predictions of number of New Zealanders 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 health? A tsunami that will overload health and social services, etc. Have you then asked yourself “Hang on a minute, if people are living longer are they not also healthier?”. Or even “Why on earth do government agencies and some academics keep talking about the number of people aged greater than 65 as a marker of some dependency on the state?”. Well, this Blog is for you. We use a paper just published in PLoS ONE that demonstrates how with falling mortality rates, population aging may actually slow due to a rapid increase in the age at which your remaining life expectancy is 15 years or less. And we draw on analyses from our own book, The Healthy Country? A History of Life and Death in New Zealand, to critique naïve assumptions about population aging. Which begs many questions, such as “Why is the age of entitlement for New Zealand superannuation still 65?” Read on.
Monday, May 18th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | No Comments
Professors Richard Edwards, Chris Cunningham, and Janet Hoek; Associate Professors George Thomson and Nick Wilson
The Ministry of Health proposes realigning tobacco control services to progress New Zealand’s Smokefree 2025 goal. However, will a ‘realignment’ of existing services ensure the goal is realised? In this blog, based on a recently published letter in the New Zealand Medical Journal (1) we suggest it may help. However, we argue more fundamental change is required and outline how the Government could do more and the priority actions that could catalyse achievement of this world-leading goal.
