EHI Newsletter #10 - July 2016
In this newsletter:
- Barry's blurb
- Welcome
- Highlights from the EHI factsheets
- Vulnerable populations
- Evaluation of Healthy Families NZ
- Empowering Pasifika youth
- National hazardous substances and lead report for 2014
- Changes afoot for CPHROnline
- Publications
- PhD Projects
- Upcoming Short Course
- Interested in postgraduate study?
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 10th issue of the EHI newsletter. As you will read elsewhere, we have been delighted to welcome Carolin, Sarah, Rosemary, Yuliya and Rashmi to our team. Congratulations also to Kylie Mason on the birth of her daughter Nadia. Our monitoring of the environmental health of NZ continues through regular updating of various factsheets, analysing data and disseminating information through our two websites. The team is finalising the epidemiological analysis for the Evaluation of the Pilot Bowel Screening Programme and also now carrying out the quantitative analysis for the Evaluation of the Healthy Families project.
We are also collaborating with our colleagues in the Ministry of Health, Fiji office of WHO-Western Pacific, and Universities of Queensland and Canberra, in hosting an EHI programme for Pacific countries.
I also encourage you to circulate to your colleagues the notice about Professor Allan Smith’s excellent short course on Meta-analysis, on 26 October 2016.
Carolin Haenfling joined the Environmental Health Indicators (EHI) team at the Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University in 2016, working as an analyst. She has a background in Physical & Human Geography and recently completed her Master of Science in Physical Geography from Victoria University of Wellington.
Sarah Jefferies is a Public Health Registrar working with the EHI team on biosecurity and child environmental health. She is completing her specialist Public Health Physician training since graduating with a Masters of Public Health from Otago in 2014. She is a Scottish trained doctor, with a Physiology BSc and medical degree from Glasgow University. Sarah has a broad clinical background as well as research experience contributing towards a Doctor of Medicine research degree. She has particular interests in infectious diseases, environmental and global health, and has recently returned from working with the Pacific Community in New Caledonia.
Yuliya Evdokimova received a Dental degree from the Tashkent Medical Academy. In 2014, she completed a Master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Eastern Finland, majoring in Epidemiology, Biostatistics and International Health. At present, Yuliya is a PhD student at the Centre for Public Health research who has joined the team working on the EHI Programme. Read PhD details below.
Rashmi Salopal received her Computer Applications degree from India. She has completed her Master’s degree in International Studies in 2014 in which her thesis was about ‘Sustainable Housing in Palmerston North’. At present, Rashmi is a PhD student at the Centre for Public Health Research, who has joined the team working on the EHI programme. Rashmi’s PhD is focussed on healthy housing services provided by local councils in New Zealand. Read PhD details below.
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Contact Carolin Haenfling (c.haenfling@massey.ac.nz) for more information on the EHI factsheets.
We are currently developing a new indicator domain for vulnerable populations. Vulnerability is considered important in environmental health because:
“those regions of the world where poor health status is met with limited capacity to adapt will be most severely affected (by environmental stresses)” (Berrang-Ford et al 2012)
Creating a profile for populations vulnerable to environmental hazards allows these groups to be located ahead of an event and their needs considered throughout the planning process. Rygel et al (2006) identified two perspectives on vulnerability:
- Potential for exposure to a hazard
- Coping ability (resistance and resilience in the face of a hazard)
The indicator domain is being designed to encompass both these perspectives and most crucially, identify groups for whom the two perspectives intersect.
The EHI team, have recently joined the National Evaluation of the Healthy Families NZ initiative to provide quantitative expertise in the use and integration of health outcome data. Healthy Families NZ is a policy initiative being carried out in 10 locations around NZ. The main goals are to prevent chronic disease (associated with poor nutrition, lack of exercise, tobacco use and alcohol-related harms), and to challenge communities to think differently about the underlying causes of poor health, and to make changes in schools, workplaces, sports clubs, marae and other key community settings – that will help people make healthier choices.
The initiative itself is based on a complex systems thinking approach to achieving social change. The Evaluation of the initiative also takes this perspective, and deploys an innovative mixed-method, case comparison design to help answer what works, for whom, where and why? Anna Matheson and Mat Walton from the School of Public Health, Massey University are jointly leading the Evaluation which is funded by the Ministry of Health.
Riz Firestone, Gertrude Tevita and Jeremy Henderson were the only group from outside the United States invited to present at the conference on Pacific health in Arkansas last month. They were joined by Professor Blakely Brown from the University of Montana, who recently completed a month-long sabbatical at Massey’s Centre for Public Health Research.
“The conference was vital in building knowledge and understanding around Pasifika health and wellbeing, obesity-related issues, and development of leadership skills. We presented outcomes from the YEP programme, showcasing the ‘ai ia e ola’ [#EatToLive] social media campaign that was launched by our youth. We wore T-shirts that were designed by the young people in the programme,” says Riz.
Earlier this year we released the second national report on hazardous substances and lead notifications using data from the Hazardous Substances Disease and Injury Reporting Tool (HSDIRT) which is available on our website. Read the report here.
Below are some key findings from the report:
- In 2014, there were a total of 229 notifications that included 130 lead absorption and 99 hazardous substances notifications. In comparison, in 2013, there were 238 notifications that included 180 lead absorption and 58 hazardous substances notifications.
- Painters were the most exposed to lead.
- Lead-based paint was the most common source of non-occupational lead exposure for both children and adults.
- Household chemicals were the most common cause of injury for children less than five years old in 2014. These included Ajax, drain unblocker, Crew Smart Dose Cleaner, dishwasher tablet, and organoil (furniture oil).
- Over 60 percent of all hazardous substances notifications were from injuries that occurred in the home.
HSDIRT update
We provided each public health unit with their own HSDIRT report and raw data for 2015 in May 2016. The next national report will be released in the next few months so keep an eye out.
For more information regarding HSDIRT, contact Fei Xu (f.xu@massey.ac.nz) or Helene Marsters (t.h.marsters@massey.ac.nz)
With Rosemary now part of the team, we have completed updating the Atlases on CPHROnline (where new data is available). We are currently working on some new Atlases as well as a new format for our profile pages. In the near future the home page and landing pages will be updated – so watch this space.
- Xu F, Borman B, Read D. 2016. Easy option vs best option. Safeguard 157
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Briggs D, Mason K, Borman B. 2015. Rapid Assessment of Environmental Health Impacts for Policy Support: The Example of Road Transport in New Zealand. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2016; 13(1): 61.
- Xu F, Marsters H. 2016. Hazards to health: e-notification to your Medical Officer of Health. Best Practice Journal 75: 38-39.
Read more here.
- Mason K, Borman B. 2016. Burden of disease from secondhand smoke exposure in New Zealand. The New Zealand Medical Journal 129(1432): 16-25.
Read more here.
Composite index for monitoring environmental health in New Zealand
Yuliya Evdokimova
Principal Supervisor: Prof Barry Borman
Co-Supervisor: Dr Anna Matheson and Assoc Prof Deborah Read
The purpose of composite indices is to combine the most essential factors to capture and present a complex phenomenon in a simple way. In other words, an index presents a simple picture of a complex reality. This feature of an index is used for the establishment of efficient communications among researchers, policy makers, and the general public. In addition, a composite index assists in making prompt evidence- based decisions and is used to compare and monitor progress (e.g. Human Development Index).
Growing attention to climate change and the proven negative impact of environmental pollution on human health induced the need for environmental health indicators - a measure that describes the link between the environment and public health. However, indicators are able to only show a fragment of a complex picture, providing information within one area of interest. In addition, a large amount of indicators do not provide policy makers with robust evidence for policy development. Therefore, for many years there has been a need to construct a single composite environmental health index that will fill the existing gap in the knowledge exchange.
The aim of the current study is to explore the approaches for the Composite Environmental Health Index development. The research will include several important stages: elaboration of a conceptual framework that will be the guidance for index construction; construction of a composite index utilizing indicators generated within the Environmental Health Indicators Programme, Centre for Public Health Research (CPHR); and conduction of an epidemiological study to explore the practical applicability of the composite index.
Barriers to improving health through healthy housing services
Rashmi Salopal
Principal Supervisor: Prof Barry Borman
Co-Supervisor: Dr Anna Matheson
The aim of this research is to examine how availability and accessibility of healthy housing services can be improved so that people can use them more effectively to improve their health. This research will focus on three regions in the Lower North Island of New Zealand: Wellington, Palmerston North and Wanganui. The researcher will find out the extent of healthy housing services available in these regions together with identifying if these services are accessible to people or not and what are the barriers faced by population when they try to access these services. Usually these services are provided in these three regions by their local council and other organizations such as Sustainability Trust and Regional Public Health. Some of the services which will be included in this study are: Eco-Design Advisor Service by Palmerston North, Kapiti Coast and Hutt City Council; Warm Fuzzies Wellington by Sustainability Trust and Housing Assessment and Advice Service (Well Homes) by Regional Public Health Wellington.
THE USE OF META-ANALYSIS FOR CAUSAL INFERENCE IN EPIDEMIOLOGY
Wednesday 26th October 2016
9am – 5pm
4D08, Wellington Campus
Meta-analysis has become a major tool in medical and public health research. There are over 30 journal publications every day with “meta-analysis” in the abstract or as a keyword.Presented by Professor Allan Smith
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
Course numbers are limited. Registration costs $250 (including morning and afternoon tea)
Contact Vicki McNaught v.n.mcnaught@massey.ac.nz for registration details
Centre for Public Health Research (CPHR) teaches a range of postgraduate papers and programmes in public health. These include
- Postgraduate study in environmental health and epidemiology
- Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health
- Master of Public Health
- PhD.
For more information, visit our Training page.
Nick's Cartoon
Copyright © 2016 Centre for Public Health Research, All rights reserved
Environmental Health Newsletter Issue 10
Our mailing address is:
Centre for Public Health Research, Block 3, Level D, Entrance B Wallace Street, Mount Cook, Wellington 6021, New Zealand.
Contact: c.haenfling@massey.ac.nz or f.xu@massey.ac.nz
Greetings from the team at the EHI Programme:
