Immunisation is a highly successful public health intervention. It safeguards individuals, whānau and communities against a range of potentially devastating diseases, and is a critical way of preventing and controlling infectious disease outbreaks. An accessible and effective immunisation system maximises immunisation uptake and coverage, improving the health of the population and enabling pae ora – healthy futures.
The government has announced plans to lower the age for free bowel cancer screening for all New Zealanders by "redirecting" money previously set aside to lower the age for Māori and Pacific people.
Exploring lived experience provides insights into the multiple ways that lack of affordability prevents access to medicines: directly, through interaction with other barriers to access including transport, by damaging trust and reducing acceptability of services, and by making participants less able to deal with mistakes made by health professionals.
Around 3500 New Zealand women will be diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Of these, 45% will be diagnosed through mammography screening, either through BreastScreen Aotearoa or through the private sector. Those diagnosed through screening have better outcomes and importantly more equitable outcomes for Māori and Pacific women.
Screening of at-risk, asymptomatic people can significantly reduce mortality from lung cancer. However, evidence about how to optimise lung cancer screening for specific populations, including Aotearoa New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori, who experience disproportionately higher rates of lung cancer, is needed to ensure that a future lung screening programme in Aotearoa New Zealand is equitable.
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.
The body representing New Zealand natural product manufacturers says the lack of modern regulation for the sector means New Zealand companies continue to struggle to compete on the world stage.
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he is proud of the Government’s commitment to increasing medicines access for New Zealanders, resulting in a big uptick in the number of medicines being funded.
The data linkage approach has evidenced the benefit of a population register to facilitate equitable access to breast screening services. Further work is needed on choices of combined approaches for optimising screening uptake equitably.
HEALTH SERVICES AND SYSTEMS
EQUITY
Exploring the impacts of the health system on minorities within the population, notably including Māori, Pacifica, Asians and LGBTQI.
DRUGS, DEVICE AND DIAGNOSTICS
PUBLIC HEALTH
DIGITAL HEALTH
TE TIRITI