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Geographical Locations - New Zealand
 The WWW Virtual Library: Public Health
Categories
Country Information
- (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 359
- CIA - World Factbook : New Zealand
Organisations and Networks
UN and Multinational
Government
Non-Government
- Alcohol Healthwatch
- Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand
- Auckland Women's Health Council
Formed in 1988; a voluntary organisation of individual women and women's groups who have an interest in all matters that impact on the health of women
- Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, New Zealand Office
- Breast Health New Zealand
"A community non-profit making website for Women, Health Professionals and Organisations. There is a need for all New Zealanders to be both vigilant and educated to understand the problems associated with Breast Cancer. Thanks go to all contributing medical people and breast cancer women for sharing their recovery"
- Cancer Society of New Zealand
Established in 1929, a non-profit organisation which receives no direct financial support from government
- Child Safety Foundation New Zealand
"Established in 1985 as the New Zealand Safe Playing Trust to teach safety to pre school and early primary school pupils, the Child Safety Foundation NZ was reformed in 1993 ... The Child Safety Foundation New Zealand has developed an Information and Resource Centre, which is available for public use. It is continually expanding, refining and improving its Library and data available for distribution to the general public nationwide, pre and primary schools, early childhood establishments, students and others working in the field of injury prevention"
- Dev-zone
Dev-zone is part of a specialist information and education centre, providing information services on development and global issues to NGOs, consultants, universities, community groups, government departments, libraries, and businesses operating in the field of overseas aid and development. Dev-Zone has an extensive range of up-to-date electronic and hard copy resources and operates a public access library, manages a comprehensive web site on development issues.
- Family Planning (FPA) New Zealand
FPA is a non-profit, charitable organisation providing sexual and reproductive health information, clinical services, education, training and research
- Hauora Maori
"Designed to provide a means for users to be educated about matters dealing with Maori health"
- Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand
"A national umbrella organisation uniting the efforts of community groups throughout Aotearoa-New Zealand to work for a healthier society. We provide national leadership and support for good health promotion practice consistent with the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Ottawa Charter. The Forum is a visible focus for community health promotion activities and advocacy and has more than 200 member organisations nationwide"
- Health Researchers of New Zealand (Document link: Deborah Raphael)
- Maori Health Research Group
- Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand
- National Maoris Health Providers Association Hauora
"Designed to provide a means for users to be educated about matters dealing with Maori health"
- National Society on Alcohol and Drug Dependence
- Needle Exchange Programme
- New Zealand AIDS Foundation
- New Zealand Drug Foundation
Established in 1990, an independent organisation with charitable trust status. The Foundation’s objective is minimising drug related harm. This includes harm caused by both legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, as well as illegal drugs, such as cannabis
- The New Zealand Nutrition Foundation
- Public Health Association of New Zealand
Provides a major forum for the exchange of information and stimulation of debate about public health in New Zealand
- Road Safe Auckland
- Te Puna Web Directory - Health Administration
- Tui Ora
Maori Health Development Organisation which is "an integrated health service organisation committed to enhancing health and wellbeing"
- Women's Health Action Trust
"a charitable trust with the aims of providing women with high quality information and education services to enable them to maintain their health and make informed choices about their health care. We have a health promotion and disease prevention focus, with a special interest in screening. We approach health within a holistic framework of the whole of women's lives, rather than from a narrowly medical perspective"
- womenz.org.nz
"a web way to feminism in Aotearoa / New Zealand", presented by the Auckland Women's Centre
Academic Institutions
National Policy and Related Documents
- An idea whose time has come: new opportunities of Health Impact Assessment in New Zealand public policy and planning
"This [2007] publication from the New Zealand Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC) encourages policy makers to carry out a health impact assessment (HIA) as a routine part of policy making. It discusses what health impacts are, the benefits of HIA, what the PHAC has learned from its work on HIA, describes some HIA case studies, and considers what is needed to make HIA a routine part of policy making in New Zealand… The publication shows how use of HIA can also improve intersectoral collaboration and community participation, and be an effective way of promoting community wellbeing across sectors… An Idea Whose Time Has Come includes a number of New Zealand case studies that demonstrate the HIA process. HIA is undertaken when there is a draft proposal(s) but no commitment has been made. There must be an opportunity to modify the policy proposal for improvement of health and wellbeing. The process is informed by both quantitative and qualitative evidence, and focuses on outcomes. International experience has shown that an explicit and systematic process, such as HIA, is needed to ensure the availability of sufficient technical information. It also ensures that health is broadly defined (to include wellbeing) and that equity issues are addressed. The publication supports HIA becoming part of agency ethos so it is a routine part of decision-making."
- Mental Health Research and Development Strategy
"This report provides an overview of health workforce development in New Zealand since 2000. It is intended to be a resource to assist those with an interest in health workforce development to understand current issues and approaches to dealing with health workforce development. It also indicates the directions needed to respond to the new demands for health and disability support workers in the future..."
- National Drug Policy website
This site aims to promote and communicate work being undertaken under the National Drug Policy (NDP). The NDP aims to improve the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders by encouraging the development of strategies and programmes to prevent and reduce drug related harm resulting from the use of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, other illicit drugs and other drug use to both individuals and the community. The NDP is in line with World Health Organization and United Nations recommendations of a balanced approach to drug policy.
- National Mental Health Information Strategy 2005–2010
"A key feature of the National Mental Health Information Strategy is its focus on the use and application of information at all levels of the mental health sector."
- Strengthening Families
Strengthening Families is a strategy that joins Health, Education and the Welfare sectors of government to improve life outcomes for children.
Reports, Guidelines, and Projects
- A Near Miss: The Importance of Context in a Public Health Informatics Project in a New Zealand Case Study
This article describes the near failure of an information technology (IT) system designed to support a government-funded, primary care–based hepatitis B screening program in New Zealand. Qualitative methods were used to collect data and construct an explanatory model. Multiple incorrect assumptions were made about participants, primary care workflows and IT capacity, software vendor user knowledge, and the health IT infrastructure. Political factors delayed system development and it was implemented untested, almost failing. An intensive rescue strategy included system modifications, relaxation of data validity rules, close engagement with software vendors, and provision of intensive on-site user support. This case study demonstrates that consideration of the social, political, technological, and health care contexts is important for successful implementation of public health informatics projects. [author abstract] [Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Volume 15, Number 5, September/October 2008, pp.701-704]
- Addressing Problem Gambling in New Zealand: A public health approach
"The development of this project has been guided by local and international evidence concerning individuals, environments and ways to support positive change. One of the critical focuses of this project is the need to engage with communities: effective relationship development is central to putting problem gambling on the agenda, and to create an environment that supports public health interventions to prevent and minimise the harm caused by problem gambling." [Health Sponsorship Council (HSC), September 2006]
- Canterbury Suicide Project
- Contracting for Health Services: Lessons from New Zealand
Contracting is a tool that is playing an increasing role in many health systems. Although contracting has the potential to add benefits to health systems, it also adds further complexity. Following a substantial health sector reform and the introduction of a purchaser-provider split, contracting became a central part of the management of New Zealand's publicly-funded health system during the period 1993 to 2000. This publication examines a number of different aspects of New Zealand's experience of using contracts in the health sector, including the contracting process, contract content and form, purchaser-provider relationships including sources of tension and factors that alleviated tensions, and issues related to monitoring and accountability. This publication may assist other countries that are using, or are planning to use contracts within their health systems. [WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 2004]
- Educating public health physicians for the future: a current perspective from Aotearoa New Zealand
Persisting, and in some cases widening, inequalities in health within and between countries present significant challenges to the focus and practice of contemporary public health, and by association, to public health education. As public health physicians and academic educators of medically- and non-medically trained public health practitioners, we call for a radical re-think of current approaches to public health medicine education and training in order to address these challenges. The public health physicians of the future, we argue, require not merely technical knowledge and skills but also a set of values that underpin a commitment to ethical principles, social equity, human rights, compassionate action, advocacy and leadership. Furthermore, while they will need to have their action firmly grounded in local realities they should think, if not speak and act, from an informed awareness of global issues. Drawing from our experience in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as with marginalised communities overseas, we proffer our suggestions for the process and content of public health physician education and training for the future, with the intention of stimulating debate. [author abstract] [Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2009, 6: 7]
- Emerging Issues for Public Health in New Zealand – A Discussion Paper
"New Zealand’s public health environment is going through a time of dramatic change both structurally and philosophically. The creation of District Health Boards (DHBs) has significantly altered the health sector, giving more responsibility to communities to identify health priorities. More recently, the emerging Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) are required to address not only the health of individual patients, but also the health of their communities. At the same time, there is increasingly wide recognition that health is strongly influenced by factors outside what is traditionally defined as the health sector. This has led to a re-evaluation of the scope and nature of public health, and the ways in which different bodies and agencies can work together to promote it (the ‘new public health’). In the area of local government, for example, recent legislation has given local authorities the ability to define for themselves much wider public health roles than they have traditionally possessed, and also enhanced their ability to undertake actions relating to these roles. Those with public health expertise and experience are also active in many areas beyond the core public health sector, including in senior management, sector leadership, and research. This enables them to bring a population approach to the orientation and potentially the re-orientation of many health services. In these and other ways, the reach of public health activity extends well beyond its core sector. This time of shifting roles, responsibilities and structures provides an excellent opportunity for all those involved in public health, from established players to those newly exploring possible public health roles, to reflect on the situation and nature of public health in New Zealand: where it has been, where it is currently, and where it may move to in the future." [Public Health Advisory Committee, October 2004]
- Guide to Developing Public Health Programmes: A generic programme logic model
Published by the New Zealand Ministry of Health, this guide aims to help people design and implement comprehensive, effective and measurable public health programmes that will deliver improved public health outcomes. By developing a systematic programme logic for each public health programme, the guide aims to ensure that programmes deliver better health, that outcomes are measured adequately, that components missing from programmes are identified, that resourcing is adequate and that the intervention mix is effective.
- Guide to Health Impact Assessment
A Policy Tool for New Zealand [Public Health Advisory Committee (2nd edition)]
- Health Workforce and International Migration: Can New Zealand Compete?
"This paper examines health workforce and migration policies in New Zealand, with a special focus on the international recruitment of doctors and nurses. The health workforce in New Zealand, as in all OECD countries, plays a central role in the health system. Nonetheless, maybe more than for any other OECD country, the health workforce in New Zealand cannot be considered without taking into account its international dimension. New Zealand has the highest proportion of migrant doctors among OECD countries, and one of the highest for nurses. There is no specific immigration policy for health professionals, although the permanent and temporary routes make it relatively easy for doctors and nurses who can get their qualification recognised to immigrate in New Zealand. At the same time, New Zealand also has high emigration rates of health workers, mainly to other OECD countries. International migration is thus at the same time an opportunity and a challenge for the management of the human resources for health (HRH) in New Zealand. Increasing international competition for highly skilled workers raises important issues such as sustainability and ability to compete in a global market. In this context, new approaches to improve the international recruitment of health workers, as well as developing alternative policies, may need to be considered. As for international recruitment, better coordination and stronger collaboration between main stakeholders could contribute to more effective and pertinent international recruitment."
- Health Workforce Development: An overview
- "Healthy Eating - Healthy Action": Evaluating New Zealand's obesity prevention strategy
Background: New Zealand rates of obesity and overweight have increased since the 1980s, particularly among indigenous Maori people, Pacific people and those living in areas of high deprivation. New Zealand's response to the obesity epidemic has been The Healthy Eating-Healthy Action: Oranga Kai - Oranga Pumau (HEHA) Strategy ('the Strategy'), launched in 2003. Because the HEHA Strategy explicitly recognises the importance of evaluation and the need to create an evidence base to support future initiatives, the Ministry of Health has commissioned a Consortium of researchers to evaluate the Strategy as a whole. Methods: This paper discusses the Consortium's approach to evaluating the HEHA Strategy. It includes an outline of the conceptual framework underpinning the evaluation, and describes the critical components of the evaluation which are: judging to what extent stakeholders were engaged in the process of the strategy implementation and to what extent their feedback was incorporated in to future iterations of the Strategy (continuous improvement), to what extent the programmes, policies, and initiatives implemented span the target populations and priority areas, whether there have been any population changes in nutrition and/or physical activity outcomes or behaviours relating to those outcomes, and to what extent HEHA Strategy and spending can be considered value for money. Discussion: This paper outlines our approach to evaluating a complex national health promotion strategy. Not only does the Evaluation have the potential to identify interventions that could be adopted internationally, but also the development of the Evaluation design can inform other complex evaluations. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2009, 9: 452]
- Implementation failures in the use of two New Zealand laws to control the tobacco industry: 1989–2005
Background: We reviewed the implementation of New Zealand laws in relation to the activities of the tobacco industry and their allies. Material for two brief case studies was obtained from correspondence with official agencies, official information requests, internet searches (tobacco industry documents and official government sites), and interviews with 12 key informants. Results: The first case study identified four occasions over a period of 14 years where New Zealand Government agencies appeared to fail to enforce consumer protection law, although apparent breaches by the tobacco industry and their allies had occurred in relation to statements on the relative safety of secondhand smoke. The second case study examined responses to a legal requirement for the tobacco industry to provide information on tobacco additives. There was failure to enforce the law, and a failure of the political process for at least 13 years to clarify and strengthen the law. Relevant factors in both these cases of 'policy slippage' appear to have been financial and opportunity costs of taking legal action, political difficulties and the fragmented nature of government structures. Conclusion: Considered together, these case studies suggest the need for governments to: (i) make better use of national consumer laws (with proper monitoring and enforcement) in relation to tobacco; and (ii) to strengthen international law and resources around tobacco-related consumer protection. A number of options for achieving these aims are available to governments. [author abstract] [Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2005, 2: 32]
- Mental health well-being amongst fathers within the Pacific Island Families Study
This article investigates the prevalence of potential psychological disorder amongst a cohort of primarily Pacific fathers in New Zealand over their child’s first 6-years of life. The analysis is based on data collected at 12-months, 2-years and 6-years postpartum during the Pacific Islands Families Study, and uses the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) to assess the prevalence of psychological distress amongst participant fathers at each measurement wave. Various sociodemographic and potentially confounding variables were also investigated to determine their effect on the risk of developing potential mental health disorder. The majority of fathers within the study reported good overall health and well-being and their prevalence of ‘symptomatic’ disorder was initially low at 12-months (3.9%) but increased significantly at 2-years (6.6%) and at 6-years (9.8%) in crude and adjusted analyses (both P-values<0.001). In the adjusted analysis, the odds of symptomatic cases at 2-years was 1.7 (95% confidence interval: 1.1, 2.8) times that observed at 12-months postpartum and at 6-years the odds was 3.2 (95% confidence interval: 1.9, 5.2) times that observed at 12-months. Moreover, in the adjusted analysis, smoking status, marital status, employment status, and ethnicity, were all significantly associated with the risk of developing symptomatic mental health disorder. [author abstract] [Pacific Health Dialog vol.15. no.1, 2009, pp.69-78]
- Public Health and Government in New Zealand: Discussion paper for the Public Health Advisory Committee
This paper discusses the role of public health in New Zealand government, and how the profile of public health might be improved. Its view of public health is broad, encompassing the determinants of health and the range of possible actors and factors that potentially influence health. The paper proposes that, in the wake of ‘managerialism’, public health could be the next guiding paradigm for public administration and policy. In keeping with this, and with political commitment and leadership, all of government activity could be geared toward developing policies and services that enhance the health of the nation. Called .public health policy, the emphasis would be on building policy across government for a healthy population as opposed to the present situation where individual government agencies develop sector-specific arrangements often with minimal consideration of health impact. Public health policy requires an integrated approach. Two trends in New Zealand government set the stage for this. First, the move toward outcome-oriented government which has the potential to promote greater cross-government collaboration and the development of shared goals. Second, the emergence of e-government which provides infrastructure for building networks across and beyond government agencies. However, these are long-term developments and there are questions over their capacity to drive integrated government. In the short term, a range of measures are available to help improve the profile of public health and understanding across government of the underlying determinants of health. [author abstract] [PHAC Discussion Paper, 2004]
- Public Health WWW Networking Project
Website funded by the Ministry of Health to promote networking and strategic use of the Internet for Health Promotion
- Social deprivation and the public health risks of community drinking water supplies in New Zealand
Study objective: Quantitative evidence linking environmental exposures and social status at sub-national scales is surprisingly limited. This study investigated the public health risks associated with community water supplies in relation to social status in New Zealand. Design: An ecological study using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to compare the grade of community water supplies with an index of social deprivation for small areas. Setting: New Zealand. Participants: The New Zealand population usually resident in meshblocks (census areas) with a community water supply (70% of the 1996 population of 3.6 million people). Main results: People living in deprived areas are exposed to greater public health risks from community water supplies. In urban areas, the odds of water supplies being high risk were 3.76 times greater for the most deprived decile compared with the least deprived decile (95% CI: 2.95 to 4.78). Conclusions: It is probable that deprived communities in New Zealand are experiencing a disproportionate burden of adverse health effects as a result of poor water quality. [author abstract] [J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2003; 57; 581-583]
- Strengthening health, wellbeing and equity: Embedding policy-level HIA in New Zealand
Policy-level health impact assessment (HIA) is a formal approach for assessing the impact of policies on health, wellbeing and equity. HIA is used by policymakers across government and by those who may be affected by policy. This paper outlines efforts to embed HIA in New Zealand, including development of an HIA guide for New Zealand, training to support its use and the promotion of HIA to key government agencies. It briefly presents three New Zealand HIA case studies. The paper reviews the uptake of HIA in New Zealand and identifies a range of factors (including awareness of the role and potential value of HIA, training in HIA, access to HIA expertise, political and managerial support for HIA, resourcing and statutory recognition) that influence whether agencies undertake HIA. The paper then discusses the future of HIA in New Zealand, identifying the need for legislation to encourage HIA, the value of embedding HIA in policy processes and the importance of a dedicated HIA support unit. The paper concludes that considerable progress has been made at this initial stage of embedding HIA and that the approach has an important contribution to make in strengthening health, wellbeing and equity in policymaking in New Zealand. [author abstract] [Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Issue 29, November 2006, pp.17-31]
Educational Resources
Original website founded Lucien E. Schlosser and Eberhard Wenzel, 1997.
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