Environmental Health Intelligence Newsletter 21
September 2020
Welcome to the latest edition of the Environmental Health Intelligence NZ newsletter (updated version).
You will note we have made a slight change to the name of our programme (from Indicators to Intelligence) better to reflect the scope and function of our work. As you will read, the team continues to be highly productive despite moving between lockdown levels and working at home and in the office.
Healthspace has had a major revamp to incorporate excellent feedback from clients and stakeholders wanting a more user-friendly informative interface. We have released several updated factsheets, and are mentioned in a recent article in Victoria University’s Policy Quarterly Report.
I am incredibly proud that so many of the team enthusiastically participated in a day planting almost 300 trees. Fortunately, the weather was fine.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact the team if you have any comments and suggestions or we can assist you.
A new online health data tool to help decision-makers understand New Zealand's most important health information in a more accessible way
We have upgraded our health data tool on Healthspace and received an official launch on Massey University's website.
The data visualisation tool is called Healthspace Puna Ora, it is interactive dashboards make it easy to explore health data and statistics at a regional level across New Zealand on topics such as environmental health, alcohol-related harm and Māori health, among other important health issues in New Zealand.
These indicators provide valuable information for action for the health sector, local authorities, and government agencies.
You can explore indicators, gain insights and find data here.
Recent Updates
Most travel time is spent in motor vehicles
In 2015–18, New Zealanders spent an average of 1,175 million hours each year travelling in motor vehicles (cars, vans or motorcycles). This is about 83% of the total hours spent travelling, a proportion that has stayed largely unchanged over time. The share of time spent using active or public modes of transport differed greatly by region during this period, ranging from 3.3% of all travel time in Gisborne, to 27.6% of all travel time in the Wellington region.
For more information, please visit our website.
There were 11 interceptions containing mosquitoes of overseas origin in 2019
39.5% of all interceptions of overseas origin originated from the Pacific region. Australia was the most common country of origin. 35.2% of mosquito interceptions of overseas origin were discovered among ‘other cargo’ (eg, household goods, shipping containers—contents not specified).
For more information, please visit our website.
Livestock numbers continued to decline between 2018–2019
Compared to 2018, the total number of livestock was down by 1.2%, equivalent to 470,000 fewer animals. Though sheep numbers decreased by 32% between 2002–2019, sheep still outnumbered all other livestock types combined by a factor of almost three to one at the end of the 2010s. Sheep were the predominant stock animal, with an overall density of 101.3 animals per km2 , more than four times the density of the next most numerous animal – dairy cattle, with a density of 23.6 animals per km2
For more information, please visit our website.
In 2016, 159 New Zealanders died from non-melanoma skin cancer
Males represented two-thirds of these deaths (108 male deaths, compared with 51 female deaths) and were over-represented in most categories of interest. Between 2007-2016, almost all NMSC deaths were among people of European/Other ethnicity (1,320 out of 1,357 deaths, 97.3%).
For more information, please visit our website.
Other news
Some of our team members have been working with the Coronavirus Statistical Advisory Group to provide advice to the Ministry of Health, ESR and other organisations
As well as their roles within EHINZ, Professors Barry Borman, Steven Haslett and Deborah Read contribute regularly to other projects within the College of Health and the wider academic community.
They have been working with the Coronavirus Statistical Advisory Group to provide advice to the Ministry of Health, ESR, and other organisations. The advice provided by the group has been used to:
- Help design the programme of testing used to determine whether to shift lockdown levels in May.
- Assist in planning a national register of biological samples collected during COVID-19 pandemic.
- Formulate COVID-19 testing strategies for at-risk groups.
You can read more about the group's work in the latest issue of the New Zealand Statistical Associations' newsletter here.
Our insights were used to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on south Auckland's Pacific community The Guardian
Recently, our team's insight about Pacific Health contributed to the article titled "Devastating impact': south Auckland's Pasifika bear brunt of new Covid-19 outbreak", published in The Guardian: "Data from Environmental Health Indicators New Zealand" shows that 48.5% of Pasifika households in south Auckland are overcrowded – meaning there’s a need for at least one additional bedroom."
You can read more about the article here.
Our work received another recognition in Victoria University's latest policy Quarterly report
In the article published by Peter Crampton, Don Matheson and Maria Cotter, they have discussed some of the challenges that face New Zealand's state-mandated public health institutions.
Public health purchasing and Vote Health expenditure are falling during the period of 2010–2018. As a consequence, there was a loss of public health analytical capacity with the demise of the Public Health Directorate and its Public Health Intelligence section. We, the EHINZ, are playing an important role in the Ministry of Health’s policy and strategy leadership.
You can read more about the article here.
Voluntary work from the team
Here at EHINZ, we not only monitor environmental health, we also help to preserve it! Here are some photos of the EHINZ team during their day volunteer tree planting at Tarakena Bay with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please feel free to email us.
