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Author Archives: Kate Sloane

(Un)licensed to kill: do we need to regulate how tobacco is sold?

Thursday, April 21st, 2016 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Lindsay Robertson, Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards and Louise Marsh*

Tobacco retail blog - Northern Advocate

Example of a tobacco free retailer in Northland (Source: Northern Advocate)

Two recent articles by Aspire2025 researchers have explored how tobacco sales in New Zealand could be more effectively regulated. The first examines licensing models that have been implemented overseas, while the second explores how provisions from the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 could inform tobacco supply policies (both published in the NZ Medical Journal, 1 April 2016). This blog overviews the findings in both articles and explains how stronger tobacco supply policies would contribute to the Government’s smokefree 2025 goal.

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Perspective: Who is responsible for stopping NZ’s obesity epidemic?

Monday, April 18th, 2016 | Kate Sloane | 2 Comments

Dr Robyn Toomath

Fat Science blogEditorial note: In this blog-perspective, obesity expert Dr Robyn Toomath outlines the dogmas and arguments for the ‘individual-responsibility’ explanation and (lack of) solution to the obesity epidemic. She then points to the market failures that render (non-regulated) free-market solutions as doomed to fail. The views in this blog are expanded in greater depth in a book Dr Toomath is launching in Auckland and Wellington this month, Fat Science (Auckland University Press).

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Engaging online simulator of measles outbreaks (& how NZ needs to do better in eliminating measles)

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016 | Kate Sloane | 5 Comments

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Osman Mansoor, Prof Michael Baker

To help explain the concept of ‘herd immunity’, The Guardian Newspaper has produced a clever online simulator of measles spread. We comment on why this simulator is informative and how it also demonstrates chance effects in the spread of infectious diseases. Then we take the opportunity to explain why NZ should be doing more to wipe out diseases like measles.

Measles blog

Source: The Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2015/feb/05/-sp-watch-how-measles-outbreak-spreads-when-kids-get-vaccinated

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The UK Government Shows Leadership with a Soft Drink Tax Announcement

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016 | Kate Sloane | 3 Comments

Dr Wilma Waterlander, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Dr Andrea McDonald, Dr Helen Eyles, Prof Tony Blakely

Sugar levy announcedA Conservative UK Government has announced a new soft drink tax with revenue recycling towards school-based physical activity programmes. In this blog we briefly look at the UK initiative and assess its possible utility for changing New Zealand’s obesogenic environment.

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NZ’s Smart Use of Big Data: Employment & Income Impacts of Selected Health Conditions

Monday, March 14th, 2016 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr George Disney, Prof Tony Blakely

Word Cloud "Big Data"New Zealand is making rapid strides in the smart use of big data to provide better health information for decision-makers. Here we look at a recent output: a Treasury Working Paper that considers the employment and income effects of eight health conditions. Such information could ultimately inform the best use of resources for disease prevention and treatment interventions from a societal perspective.

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