Issue 339 - 2 April 2026

Welcome to the fortnightly Health Improvement and Innovation Digest. The Digest has links to key evidence of interest, with access to new content arranged by topic.

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Article Access

For articles that aren't open access, contact your Health NZ district library, or organisational or local library for assistance in accessing the full text. If your organisation has a subscription, you may be able to use the icon under full text links in PubMed to access the full article.

Māori Innovation

Pai te moe, pai te ora: exploring the sociocultural practice of sleep in Aotearoa New Zealand through Māori media
Media has the potential to influence beliefs and social practices regarding sleep health. Sponsored articles, amateur guidance, and product advertising sit alongside Western scientific sleep research, which privileges biological and medicalized conceptualizations. Within this space, Indigenous knowledge and perspectives have largely been absent, creating a gap in culturally grounded understandings of sleep as a social practice. This study, published in Health Promotion International, began the process of reclaiming and re-privileging Indigenous Māori sleep knowledge.

Just cause: Investigating Kaupapa Māori determinants of wellbeing
Deepening our understandings of both ‘cause and cure’ is at the heart of public health efforts to lift population wellbeing, and Indigenous people’s pursuit and realisation of self-determination. This focus is also central to social investment, the prevailing policy approach to social services provision in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the past four decades Māori have promulgated an array of concepts and models to facilitate recovery from the impacts of colonisation and racism, and set the conditions for Māori thriving and wellbeing. Kaupapa Māori has emerged as an orientation with dual structuralist and culturalist imperatives to achieve these high level outcomes. However, despite the widespread uptake and application of kaupapa Māori initiatives, the underlying causal mechanisms of transformation are yet to be fully elucidated. This is the focus of the current article, published in Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing.

Health Equity (New Zealand)

A Māori Response to the Māori Family & Sexual Violence Workforce
The significant impact of family and sexual violence in Aotearoa, especially amongst Māori calls for solutions to advance the Māori workforces who are connected to their communities and meeting the demands of their people in complex and challenging contexts. Despite the increasingly national visibility of family and sexual violence in Aotearoa, the workforces, their work in Māori communities to respond and heal from family and sexual violence —has largely remained invisible. This paper, published in the Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing, presents the results from a national project that focused on the Māori Workforce, their professional development needs and aspirations for a National Coordinating Entity, Māori Workforce Strategy and Māori standards of practice.

A Critical Tiriti Analysis of the Health Workforce Plan 2023/24: The need to strengthen health workforce planning
There has been a longstanding global shortage of clinically and culturally safe health practitioners, and a critical scarcity of Indigenous practitioners. Within Aotearoa, the Health Workforce Plan 2023/24 (the Plan) is a major policy driver for addressing health workforce issues within Te Whatu Ora, our major health employer. This paper, published in the Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing, reviews to what extent the Plan aligns to the five elements of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Positive childhood experiences and mental health among Indigenous peoples: A scoping review
The objectives of this scoping review, published in Psychological Trauma, were to summarise common types of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) among Indigenous Peoples and the relationship between PCEs and mental health among Indigenous Peoples.

Defining rurality: evaluating the options for the development of a new regional–rural admission scheme for professional medical programs at the University of Auckland
Pathways aimed at increasing the medical workforce in regional and rural areas in Aotearoa New Zealand have been implemented in universities, such as the Regional and Rural Admission Scheme (RRAS) at Waipapa Taumata Rau (The University of Auckland), to address urban–rural variations in health outcomes. This study, published in Rural and Remote Health, reviewed the university’s scheme and suggested the program was not providing equitable opportunities for students from a rural background as originally intended.

Nutrition & Physical Activity (New Zealand)

The impact of Ka Ora, Ka Ako, New Zealand’s free, healthy school lunch program on children’s health and wellbeing
Since 2020, New Zealand’s free, healthy lunch program, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, has been implemented in qualifying schools from high-deprivation areas. The aim of this study, published in BMC Nutrition, was to measure its impact on student health and wellbeing.

The co-creation of eating and wellbeing guidelines with rangatahi (young people) in Aotearoa New Zealand
The objective of this study, published in Public Health Nutrition, was to co-create with rangatahi (young people) evidence-based eating and wellbeing guidelines for young people in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), informed by mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge).

Cancer Services (New Zealand)

Equity challenges in bowel cancer screening: A decade of spoilt faecal immunochemical test kit data in New Zealand
The objective of this study, published in the Journal of Medical Screening, was to examine spoilt faecal immunochemical test kit data for associations with ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic deprivation and age.

Gastric cancer survival (in)equity from 2002 to 2021: examining demographic and clinical characteristics among Māori and non-Māori
Gastric cancer incidence and mortality are higher among Māori compared with non-Māori. This study, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal, addresses a gap in the literature by examining changes in gastric cancer survival over time, and how this varies by socio-demographic factors among Māori and non-Māori over two decades.

Cancer Services (International)

Models, outcomes, barriers, and facilitators of supportive care in cancer: a scoping review
There is wide heterogeneity of supportive cancer care provision in the UK. Greater understanding of evidence-based models is key to developing standards for care. The purpose of this scoping review, published in Supportive Care in Cancer, was to identify the evidence-based models of delivering supportive care to patients with cancer, the outcomes measured, and the facilitators and barriers to accessing supportive care.

Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)

General practitioners’ views on community pharmacists in supporting equitable cardiovascular health outcomes for Pacific peoples: a qualitative study
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally and a significant contributor to health inequities for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand. Addressing these inequities requires a multidisciplinary approach, where community pharmacists (CPs) have the potential to play a critical role. CPs’ accessibility, medication expertise, and ability to engage with underserved populations position them uniquely within the healthcare system. However, their contribution to equitable heart health outcomes remains underexplored. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to explore the experiences and views of general practitioners (GPs) on CPs’ roles in supporting heart health equity for Pacific peoples and to examine how GPs currently work with CPs.

Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (International)

Home based, tailored intervention to reduce rate of falls after stroke (FAST): randomised trial
The objective of this study, published in BMJ, was to investigate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary, home based, tailored intervention to reduce falls after stroke.

Primary Health Care (New Zealand)

Community Health Workers' and Pharmacists' Perspectives of a CHW‐Pharmacist Collaboration Model to Support Medication Adherence
Interprofessional collaboration is key in supporting patient medication adherence. Community health workers (CHWs) can bridge the gap between community and health services and can collaborate with pharmacists to support medication adherence. A collaborative CHW‐pharmacist practice model was developed in the United States of America (USA), where CHWs and pharmacists collaborate to develop an action plan to address medication adherence barriers, and provide follow‐up with patients. The present study, published in Health Expectations, aimed to investigate opinions of pharmacists and CHWs working in Australia and New Zealand about this model, and how the model could be implemented in their respective country.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Community Pharmacy Services in New Zealand: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Best-Worst Scaling Analysis
This repeated cross-sectional study, published in Pharmacy, examined community pharmacies in Aotearoa New Zealand and the services they provide, including retail, dispensing, and expanded scope services (e.g., minor ailment management).

Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)

Invisible struggles, urgent priorities: mental health of ethnic migrant women and girls in Aotearoa New Zealand
Ethnic communities in Aotearoa New Zealand are rapidly growing and highly diverse. Migration-related experiences are deeply gendered, shaping health and wellbeing in distinct ways. This multi-methods research study, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal, aimed to understand the mental health needs of ethnic migrant women and girls, and to highlight opportunities for culturally responsive support by co-designing a research agenda with high-priority research questions.

Primary Mental Health (International)

General practitioner training in youth suicide prevention: a systematic review
Youth suicidality is the second-leading cause of death among youth globally. General Practitioners (GP) are established gatekeepers for the early identification and intervention of youth suicidal behaviours, therefore training GPs in youth suicide prevention is essential. Increasing youth-specific suicide prevention training which is sensitive to youths' unique developmental needs and risk factors is vital. The present systematic review, published in Psychology, Health & Medicine, synthesised available evidence on the youth-specific suicide prevention training received by GPs in line with PRISMA recommendations and provides a quality evaluation of the included studies.

Increased Immunisation (International)

How to leverage social media to build confidence in COVID-19 vaccines: findings and lessons learned from nationwide campaigns in four countries
Vaccine hesitancy remains a global health challenge, undermining gains in routine immunisation coverage and the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. Effective, responsive health communication is needed to counter ‘infodemics’ and strengthen public trust in vaccination. Evidence on how to design effective digital campaigns to strengthen vaccine demand is limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Results from this four-country study, published in Vaccine, demonstrate a process for the design and randomized controlled testing of evidence-based, context-driven persuasive messaging to strengthen vaccine demand.

Global overview of vaccine trust: Evidence from a scoping review
Vaccine trust is essential for achieving high coverage rates and sustaining immunisation programs worldwide. However, hesitancy intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of misinformation has challenged trust in vaccines, healthcare professionals, and institutions. This scoping review, published in Vaccine, maps global evidence on the determinants, challenges, and strategies to strengthen vaccine trust.

Key Ministry of Health Publications

Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Substance Harm 2026 – 2029
The Action to Prevent and Reduce Substance Harm 2026-2029 (the Plan) builds a foundation for a comprehensive and strategic health-system response to address substance-related harm. The Plan sets out the key actions the health system will undertake to strengthen New Zealand’s health response to the increasing substance-related harm experienced by individuals, families and communities across the four priority areas of the mental health portfolio.

Health Sector Initiative

National Diabetes Roadmap launched to improve care, prevention, and quality of life
Health New Zealand has launched a new National Diabetes Roadmap to improve care, strengthen prevention, and support better health outcomes and quality of life for people living with diabetes.

The information available on or through this newsletter does not represent Ministry of Health policy. It is intended to provide general information to the health sector and the public, and is not intended to address specific circumstances of any particular individual or entity.