Environmental Health Intelligence Newsletter 23
June 2021
I am delighted to introduce another issue of the EHINZ newsletter. As always, there are many highlights to bring to your attention since the last edition.
Congratulations to Deborah whose work over many years was a key factor in the government’s recent lowering of the blood lead levels. Kylie has had a journal article and an item on Stuff published on our social vulnerability work, and I provided an expert opinion on the recent decision to centralise decisions about fluoridating water supplies. Updates to a number of our environmental health indicators have been published and are available from the website. For example, Māori mothers continue to have the highest smoking rates than any other ethnicity, the lack of transport was a major barrier to accessing GP services for disabled adults, with one in nine people affected in 2019/20, and the use of active transport is similar across all ethnic groups and neighbourhood deprivation. quintiles.
Presentations giving an overview of the EHINZ programme and the social vulnerabilities project were delivered to the NZ Institute of Environmental Health 2021 Virtual Conference. These recordings are available on the website.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact the team if you have any comments and suggestions or we can assist you.
News Highlights
“It’s about time”- Professor Barry Borman urges the government to centralise water fluoridation
Our department’s own Professor Barry Borman provided an expert’s view on the proposed law on centralised water fluoridation in the NZ Herald. “This should have been done years ago”. The consequences of the delay of this legislation makes children more vulnerable from oral disease such as tooth decay. Adding fluoride to the drinking water supplies can help prevent and reduce tooth decay.
Deborah’s major public health success in the reduction of blood lead notifications level
Due to Dr. Deborah Read's analysis of the epidemiological and toxicological evidence of lead exposure and likely lead exposure, together with her sustained commitment over many years to seeing change, the government has agreed to lower the notifiable blood lead level from 0.48 µmol/l to 0.24 µmol/l from the 9 of April 2021. Deborah has also been reappointed to the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (HPDT).
Our work about social vulnerability indicators published in a journal article and on the Stuff website
We have recently had a journal article published about our social vulnerability indicators for natural hazards. This work, led by principal analyst Kylie Mason, can help predict those neighbourhoods that are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of natural disasters, especially floods, which can inform local officials in their emergency management planning.
The social vulnerability indicators were also highlighted in an article on the Stuff website.
For more information about the social vulnerability indicators, visit our website.
Recent Updates
New alcohol-related harm mortality indicator
We have published a new alcohol-related harm indicator on Healthspace, Mortality wholly attributable to alcohol. We have also updated the indicator, Hospitalisations wholly attributable to alcohol, with 2018 data. The indicators about alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes are on hold due to data quality issues.
For more information about these indicators, visit our website.
Maternal smoking rates at two weeks postnatal have decreased from 13.7% in 2009 to 9.4% in 2018
Māori mothers continue to have the highest smoking rates than any other ethnicity between 2009 and 2018. However, smoking rates among Māori mothers have declined from 32.4% in 2009 to 25.0% in 2018.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
Injury and mortality rates for children in road traffic incidents have been mostly stable in the most recent five years of data
Māori children are over-represented in the data, particularly with regard to mortality. Māori children had traffic injury mortality rates which were three times higher than those of children of other ethnicities.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
In 2019/20, fewer than half (42.4%) of all 5–14-year-olds regularly used active transport to and from school
Use of active transport is similar across all ethnic groups and neighbourhood deprivation quintiles.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
In 2019, the number of motor vehicles in New Zealand, and the number of vehicles per 1,000 population, once again increased to a new record high
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
In 2000, just 8.8% of the light vehicle fleet was older than 20 years. By 2019, this had more than doubled to 21.7%. The average age of light vehicles increased from 11.8 to 14.1 years.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
Lack of transport was a major barrier to accessing GP services for disabled adults, with one in nine people affected in 2019/20. Disabled adults were 6.5 times as likely as non-disabled adults to be unable to access GP services due to lack of transport.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
In 2015–18, New Zealanders spent an average of 150.4 million hours travelling to work every year.
In 2015–18, travel by private vehicle accounted for 79.9% of the time New Zealanders spent commuting to work. The majority of this time was spent as the driver of the vehicle (73.5% of all commuting time) as opposed to travelling as passenger (6.4% of all commuting time). This is a new indicator for 2020.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
Between 2001 and 2019, notification rates of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis with recreational water contact recorded as a risk factor remained mostly unchanged, while rates of campylobacteriosis declined.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
The area of land used for agricultural purposes decreased by 5.4% between 2007 and 2017. The primary use of land shifted away from specialised sheep farming and into mixed sheep and beef cattle farms
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
High-risk-pests caught at New Zealand’s border
There were 14 interceptions containing mosquitoes of overseas origin in 2020.
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in 2020
For more information about this indicator, visit our website.
News from the team
Recent presentations
Barry Borman and Kylie Mason recently gave presentations at the NZIEH conference (March 2021) and the Urban Development and Built Environment course (May 2021).
These presentations were about the EHI programme, and the social vulnerability indicators for natural hazards.
Farewell Allan Schori
Allan worked in the EHINZ team for three and a half years. He expertly led the water quality and border health domains. He also had substantial involvement in other projects, using GIS and other technical skills.
We wish him all the best at his new job at the Ministry of Health!
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please feel free to email us.
