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.
Friday, October 4th, 2013 | Kate Sloane | No Comments
Associate Professors Nick Wilson & George Thomson
A just released Judicial Review has opened up the question of how “open areas” of buildings (where smoking is permitted in New Zealand) are determined in practice. In this blog post we consider the implications of this ruling and why it heightens the need for an expanded national law on smokefree areas.
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013 | Kate Sloane | No Comments
Stefanie Vandevijvere, PhD and Boyd Swinburn, MD
University of Auckland, School of Population Health
In keeping with the issues covered in this week’s new book “Appetite for Destruction“, we are calling for some smart food policies to create an ‘appetite for health’. In this blog, we discuss what a new network of university researchers and NGOs are developing to get us on the road to implementation of smart food policies in New Zealand and internationally.
Monday, September 30th, 2013 | Kate Sloane | 2 Comments
Professor Tony Blakely
Book launched tomorrow
Gareth Morgan is known as a smart economist and a bit of a stirrer of public debate. Think domestic cat control to save birds. Think “Big Kahuna” on social policy. And think “Health Cheque”, a review of prioritisation in the health services. But he, and his economist co-author Geoff Simmons, actually apply a very careful analysis before they get in your face with their solutions.
Tuesday, September 24th, 2013 | Kate Sloane | 1 Comment
Professor Richard Edwards
Party pills now have stringent government-promulgated rules and processes. All but one MP voted for the new law. The irony is that tobacco – and for that matter alcohol – with orders of magnitude more harm gets the wet bus ticket regulatory treatment. The promise is that if such a wide parliamentary consensus can be achieved on party pills, proportionate action on tobacco should see it sorted out by lunch time.
Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 | Nick Wilson | 2 Comments
Assoc Prof Nick Wilson & Prof Tony Blakely
According to the just released “World Happiness Report 2013”, New Zealanders are among the happiest people in the world, ranking 13th out of 156 nations examined. Actually only seven countries appear to have significantly higher (happier) rankings than New Zealand (where the confidence intervals for the ranking scores clearly don’t overlap). These include the four Scandinavian countries, two European countries (Netherlands and Switzerland) and Canada. The source of the New Zealand data is the two-yearly New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS), run by Statistics New Zealand. Continue reading