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A century of health inequalities in NZ – new data

Monday, March 26th, 2018 | dayhi34p | 1 Comment

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Matt Boyd, Dr Andrea Teng, Prof Tony Blakely

Everyone knows that socio-economic inequalities in health exist – in recent times. But one thing we do not know is whether they have always been there. We have just published a study that looks at two historical datasets – with one of these suggesting life span differences by occupational class as measured 100 years ago. We find strong differences in life expectancy by occupational class among men enlisted to fight in the First World War (but not actually getting to the frontline). Whilst not definitive evidence (it is hard to get perfect evidence from 100 years ago!), it does suggest that socio-economic inequalities in mortality have existed for at least 100 years in NZ. In this blog we also take the opportunity to discuss what might be done to address the current inequality problem in this country.

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Standardised packaging: A new era in reducing tobacco marketing in NZ

Wednesday, March 14th, 2018 | dayhi34p | No Comments

Janet Hoek, Philip Gendall, Richard Edwards, Shayne Nahu, Nick Wilson

From today, all tobacco products in New Zealand will start appearing in standardised, or plain, packages. In this blog, we discuss the importance of developing an on-going monitoring and evaluation plan around this intervention. We also explain why communications with smokers – whether on-pack or mass media – must be salient and timely to have strong and continuing impact on supporting quitting. Achieving all these actions should help to accelerate progress towards the NZ Government’s Smokefree 2025 goal.

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Can we manage dual use of smoking and vaping more effectively?

Friday, February 16th, 2018 | dayhi34p | No Comments

Professor Janet Hoek, Dr Lindsay Robertson, Ms Mei-Ling Blank, Dr Rosalina Richards

Although most smokers want to quit, many of those who begin vaping continue to smoke. We recently probed this perplexing ambiguity and explored dual use of cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) [1]. In this blog, we summarise our findings and consider interventions that could encourage smokers to transition completely to vaping.

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What public health lessons can NZ still learn from the United States?

Monday, January 29th, 2018 | dayhi34p | 1 Comment

Prof Nick Wilson, A/Prof George Thomson

The United States has many major health problems – including declining life expectancy and an exorbitantly expensive health care system. However, the large number of state and local governments provide a wealth of potential lessons that NZ could learn from. In this blog we briefly consider some of these, particularly in the domains of support for nutrition and physical activity, tobacco and alcohol control, and pollution control.

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The Havelock North drinking water inquiry: A wake-up call to rebuild public health in New Zealand

Wednesday, December 20th, 2017 | dayhi34p | 1 Comment

Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Alistair Woodward

The huge campylobacteriosis outbreak in Havelock North in August 2016 caused by contaminated drinking water was a public health disaster. The second report of the Havelock North Drinking Water Inquiry describes a long list of failings that contributed to the outbreak. In this blog we argue that the failings are much broader than the safety of drinking water supplies and represent a serious erosion and fragmentation of NZ’s national public health institutions. What is needed now is a major stocktake and rebuilding of our country’s national public health capacity.

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