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, June 4th, 2020 | tedla55p | 1 Comment
George Thomson, Nick Wilson, Richard Edwards
This blog discusses the passing of the Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Act last week. We briefly review some lessons from this legislation’s long journey and explore future smokefree possibilities in Aotearoa / New Zealand.
Thursday, April 28th, 2016 | Kate Sloane | No Comments
Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere, Alanna Soupen, University of Auckland
Figure 1: McDonald’s supporting junior football in New Zealand – http://stoppress.co.nz/news/world-cup-fever-hits-mcdonalds-release-new-menu-items
This blog looks at five important ways that the Children’s Code for Advertising Food could be substantially improved to protect children and young people from obesity and poor oral health. Although public health experts would generally favour a regulatory approach (given the lack of evidence for an industry-controlled process and voluntary codes (1)), the current review of the voluntary Advertising Codes in NZ does present another opportunity for the food industry to show they do want to be part of the solution to reduce New Zealand’s unacceptably high rates of obesity in children and young people (2).
Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | No Comments
Amanda Wood, PhD candidate, University of Auckland
The Health Minister is currently deciding how to best address children’s poor health due to diet-related diseases. It is a good time to reflect not only on the content of those approaches, but also the regulatory frameworks for those approaches. This blog explores a co-regulatory approach that could be applied to the strengthening of junk food marketing restrictions to children.