News Ngā karere

The Director-General of Health has reconfirmed the directions issued to 14 local authorities to fluoridate one or more of their water supplies. This followed the completion of a court-ordered Bill of Rights Act assessment.

Health agencies have confirmed today that Aotearoa New Zealand is now in the early stages of a whooping cough epidemic, with a nationally coordinated response now in place. 

The Ministry of Health is today releasing an evidence brief and position statement on the use of puberty blockers for gender identity issues and outlining a more cautious approach to their use.

The Ministry has published results from the 2023/24 New Zealand Health Survey today.

The Ministry is encouraging people to take steps to help ensure important medicines, such as antibiotics, can remain effective for treating infections.

The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 will self-repeal on 26 November, marking the end to the potential use of COVID-19 specific legal tools to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today the Director-General of Health, Dr Diana Sarfati, alongside the Government, and other Chief Executives will apologise for the abuse suffered in state care between 1950-1999. 

The Ministry of Health is now inviting New Zealanders to share their views on its latest Long-term Insights Briefing topic, ‘Unlocking the Potential of Active Ageing’ which looks at the challenges we face with an ageing population.

The Government is working on changes to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 to make vaping products less appealing and less available to people under the age of 18 years.

Two new guides have been developed to support women to make decisions about treatment options for stress urinary incontinence.

“This MedSafety Week, we want to emphasise the importance of taking medicines as directed to reduce the risk of side effects,” Medsafe Group Manager Chris James says.

The Office of Radiation Safety will be closed for the holiday period from the end of the day, Monday 23 December 2024 and re-open on Wednesday 8 January 2025. In the case of a radiation emergency, where people or the environment may be harmed, please call: 021 393 632 immediately.

Former eye surgeon, Dr Philip Macdonald, was sentenced in the Napier District Court last week for continuing to practise after he voluntarily deregistered from the New Zealand Medical Council.

The Public Health Agency, within the Ministry of Health, has published New Zealand’s first Health National Adaptation Plan, establishing a new foundation for building climate resilience within our health system and beyond.

It is encouraging to see rates of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease (IPD), a disease linked with severe forms of pneumonia and meningitis, decreasing among children under 2, following the reintroduction of the PCV13 vaccine in early 2023.