Fresh insights into Pacific Health

Fresh insights have been developed by our team to better understand the health needs of Auckland's Pacific Island population.

Public health medicine specialist Dr Catherine Jackson and public health registrar Dr Jay Harrower have been working with Statistics New Zealand to interpret the 2003 national census data and what it means for Pacific health in Auckland.

Several of the key findings revealed that the Auckland Pacific population has:

• higher proportions of families living in crowded homes
• lower proportions with internet access
• higher proportions smoking
• higher proportions living in single parent family households (up to 1 in 4)

Read the full story here.
 

The New Zealand Government has announced plans to shift decision-making on fluoridation from local government to district health boards. This announcement has prompted further discussion among people both for and against fluoridation. For more information on the proposed legislative changes, click here.

Pamphlets and posters are now available on our website. These materials illustrate the benefits of fluoridation, address safety concerns, and answer frequently asked questions. 

You can download and print these resources from our website. 
 

Auckland's obesogenic environment

GPs see the effects of Auckland’s obesogenic environment every day in their practices. That's why Auckland’s PHOs have joined the Healthy Auckland Together coalition, set up to improve access to good food and opportunities for physical activity in the city, along with the DHBs, public health agencies, NGOs, local government and iwi. 

The coalition’s first analysis of infrastructure and of healthy behaviour indicators has found a few positive trends: 

1) There’s been a reduction in the proportion of Pacific Island children who were obese, by 1.4% for girls and by 2.5% for boys.

“This is a relative decline of 14 percent in obesity for Pacific boys from 17.25 percent to 14.75 percent,” says Healthy Auckland Together spokesperson Dr Michael Hale.

2) Maori preschool boys have experienced the same 2.5% reduction in their obesity rate.

“We need more information to be able to say definitively why this trend is occurring. It may be because of early childhood policies, awareness around sugar, improved prenatal care or many other causes.  However it does reflect the same stabilisation in obesity rates seen in other developed countries,” he says.

Other indicators are less positive, with a saturation of fast food outlets in some areas of Auckland. “Many communities’ food choices have deteriorated,” Dr Hale says.