Environmental Health Indicators Newsletter 19
March 2020
Welcome to the latest issue of the Environmental Health Indicators (EHI) newsletter.
There have been two momentous events for the EHI team since our last newsletter. Firstly, we celebrated, with many friends, colleagues, collaborators, and clients, the 10th anniversary of the EHI Programme at Massey University. We received congratulations from a number of people who were unable to attend. It is hard to believe that the Programme started in 2010 with funding from the Ministry of Health (who remain our principal funder) and Helene and myself. Now, ten years later, it has a staff of 12 and a broad range of stakeholders and clients.
Of course, the second major event has been the intrusion of COVID-19 into all of our lives. Like all NZers, the team is adapting to working from home, and re-balancing life and work duties and commitments in extraordinary circumstances. We hold a weekly videoconference check-in and update each other on work progress, which is complemented with daily ad hoc meetings when necessary.
On behalf of the EHI team, we hope you and your family, whānau are safe and secure, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with you.
10-year anniversary
The Environmental Health Indicators team proudly celebrated ten years of the EHI Programme at Massey University at a well-attended function on 11 March 2020. Barry welcomed our guests, colleagues, collaborators, and clients and introduced the distinguished guest speakers:
- Deborah Woodley, Deputy Director-General, Population Health and Prevention, Ministry of Health
- Professor Jane Mills, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, College of Health, Massey University
- Emeritus Professor David Briggs, Imperial College, London
- Professor Jeroen Douwes, Director, Center for Public Health Research, Massey University
From left: Steve Haslett, Jeroen Douwes, Jane Mills, Deborah Read, Shunnie Xie, Deborah Woodley, Agnieszka Kowalik-Tait, Carolin Haenfling, Helene Marsters, Mathu Shanthakumar, Barry Borman, Allan Schori, Patrick Hipgrave, Kylie Mason, Kirstin Lindberg
Photo credit: Jeroen Burmanje
Barry thanked the speakers for their generous compliments, and enthusiastic support and encouragement over the past ten years. Special thanks to the Ministry of Health for continuing to be our primary funder.
He also thanked on behalf of all New Zealand, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Director-General of Health (who had given his apologies for not being able to attend the function) for his outstanding leadership of the COVID-19 issue. He has presented a calm, comforting reassurance with the right blend of communication, medical knowledge and empathy
Barry also thanked Sally Gilbert, Manager, Environmental and Border Health, in the Ministry of Health. She was also unable to be present due to the Ministry’s COVID-19 response. Undoubtedly, Sally has been the EHI’s champion in the Ministry with her wholehearted enthusiasm and support for the Programme.
Frances Graham’s great support and contribution to the EHI Programme as Contract Manager in the initial years until she moved to Melbourne was also acknowledged.
Finally, Barry congratulated the current and former staff of the EHI Programme. He said: “We are only here today celebrating because of your outstanding high quality work, passion and commitment to the EHI Progamme.”
Recent Updates
Males have higher rates of hazardous substances-related hospitalisations than females
Children under five had consistently significantly higher rates of hazardous substance-related hospitalisations than other age groups, and their most common injury was from solvents, hydrocarbons and corrosive substances.
For more information, please visit our website.
14.1 years was the average age of light vehicles in 2018
Over a third of the light vehicle fleet was older than 15 years in 2018. Trucks and buses however were the oldest types of vehicles in 2018, with an average age of 17.8 and 15.9 years, respectively
For more information, please visit our website.
4.3 million motor vehicles in New Zealand in 2018
There were 802 light vehicles per 1,000 people in in 2018. This represents one of the highest car ownership rates in the world. Light electric vehicles accounted for 2.1% of all light vehicle registrations in December 2019.
For more information, please visit our website.
Five stations exceeded the national standard for nitrogen dioxide between 2004 and 2014
None of the monitoring stations exceeded the standard (one-hour average) since 2015. The WHO guideline (annual average) was exceeded by one monitoring station, Queen Street in Auckland.
For more information, please visit our website.
130,000 New Zealanders had missed out on a GP visit due to lack of transport in 2018/19
Women were more than twice as likely as men to have had an unmet GP need due to lack of transport in the previous 12 months. People living in the most deprived areas had much higher rates of unmet GP need than those who live in the least deprived areas.
For more information, please visit our website.
14.9% of children aged 2-14 years had medicated asthma in 2017/18
Prevalence rates of medicated asthma were higher for boys (17.3%) than girls (12.3%) in 2017/18. Boys were 1.4 times more likely than girls to have medicated asthma. The rate of medicated asthma has remained consistent for over 10 years, from 2006/07 to 2017/18.
For more information, please visit our website.
Mosquito-borne disease notification counts have increased since 2001
Dengue Fever continued to be the most commonly diagnosed mosquito-borne disease in 2017. Youth, adults and middle-aged adults had higher rates of mosquito-borne disease compared to all other age groups in 2017.
For more information, please visit our website.
COVID-19: What you can do & why
Watch a 20 minute video about the history and epidemiology of COVID-19, including what you can do and where to get advice.
Presented by Associate Professor Deborah Read, Public Health Physician
Publications, conferences and presentations
New Zealand Institute of Environmental Health - Centennial Professional Development Conference
In March, Barry Borman and Kylie Mason presented at the NZIEH 2020 Conference in Wellington.
Environmental Health Indicators Programme
Barry presented an overview of the EHI Programme. His talk focussed on the methodology used to develop indicators and the methods used to disseminate the analysis and information.
For more information about the EHI Programme, please visit our website.
To explore geographic health and population data for New Zealand, please visit our Healthspace website.
Social Vulnerability Indicators to Natural Hazards: A case study of flooding in Porirua
Kylie presented a new set of social vulnerability indicators for natural hazards. Her talk focussed primarily on social vulnerability to flooding, and gave examples using a case study of Porirua, Wellington.
For more information about the social vulnerability project, please visit our website.
News from the team
Farewell Gina Armstrong!
Gina worked in the EHI team for two years, looking after the hazardous substances project. She was also looking after the recreational water quality and children's environmental health indicators.
We wish her all the best at her new job at Pharmac!
Welcome Shunnie Xie!
Shunnie joined the team as an analyst in 2020. She has completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences degree at the University of Auckland in 2016 and also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Informatics in 2018. She is currently completing a Master’s degree in Health Analytics at Massey University. She is responsible for hazardous substances and children's environmental health indicators.
Welcome Patrick Hipgrave!
Patrick joined the team as an analyst in 2020. He has a background in physical and human geography and graduated from Victoria University in 2016. He is currently completing a Master of Geographic Information Science degree. He is responsible for UV radiation and recreational water quality indicators.
Deborah Read has been employed by Hutt Valley DHB as a Medical Officer of Health and seconded to MidCentral DHB to assist with the COVID-19 response.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please feel free to email us.
