Issue 328 - 4 September 2025

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

Māmā Māori: Teenage Māori mothers’ experiences of support for their holistic wellbeing and success
The purpose of this study, published in MAI Journal, was to explore support systems comprising health, social, financial, education and whānau that exist for teenage Māori mothers / māmā Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Health Equity (New Zealand)

Sāmoan health worker wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand – a Pacific-based scoping review
A strong Sāmoan health workforce is required to improve the health outcomes of a growing Sāmoan population within Aotearoa New Zealand. Initiatives are underway to increase an under-represented Sāmoan health workforce, yet the wellbeing of this workforce and the safety of the spaces they are occupying are unknown. This scoping review, published in Pacific Health Dialog, aimed to uncover available research exploring the wellbeing and support of Sāmoan health workers.

Addressing the podiatry needs of Pacific matua through community-based service delivery – prioritising collaborative engagement approaches
Pacific peoples in Aoteaoroa NZ experience poorer health and greater unmet health needs than the non-Pacific population, often due to financial or language barriers, mono-cultural assumptions, and practices of healthcare professionals. Within the plethora of health and social issues faced by Pacific matua, podiatric (foot) health is increasingly recognised as a vital component for health and wellbeing for older Pacific people. This study, published in Pacific Health Dialog, used a co-design approach to investigate podiatric health amongst a cohort of Pacific matua (older Pacific people) based in Auckland, NZ.

Evaluating Indigenous health workforce development interventions for Māori and Indigenous Pacific tertiary students: success at Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland (2016–2023)
The aim of this study, published in the The New Zealand Medical Journal, was to quantitatively evaluate educational performance of Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme (MAPAS) interventions at Waipapa Taumata Rau/The University of Auckland from 2016 to 2023.

Nutrition & Physical Activity (New Zealand)

Cluttered with claims: Composition, nutrition, health and marketing claims on commercial infant and toddler foods in New Zealand
The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe's Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model recommends that commercial infant and toddler foods do not carry compositional, nutrition, health, or marketing claims. The objective of this study, published in Nutrition & Dietetics, was to identify on‐pack claims displayed on commercial foods for infants and toddlers in New Zealand.

How Does Household Food Insecurity Impact Complementary Feeding, in High Income Countries, in a Cost-of-Living Crisis? A Systematic Scoping Review
Complementary feeding, when infants are introduced to solid foods, is an important stage of learning new tastes, textures and eating behaviours. Austerity, post-BREXIT (in the UK) and the COVID-19 pandemic have created a cost-of-living crisis, exacerbating prevalence of food insecurity in high-income countries. Understanding how this may impact upon parents' experience of complementary feeding is important. This systematic scoping review, published in Maternal & Child Nutrition, therefore examined how food insecurity impacts diet and feeding practices during the complementary feeding period for infants aged 6-18 months.

Quality Improvement (International)

Interventions for preventing falls in older people in care facilities
Falls in care facilities are common events, causing considerable morbidity and mortality for older people. The aim of this Cochrane Review was to assess the benefits and harms of interventions designed to reduce the incidence of falls in older people in care facilities.

Primary Health Care (New Zealand)

Māori Navigating Gut Symptoms: “I mean, who gets cramp that often in their puku?”
Gut diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Aotearoa New Zealand, with higher rates of these conditions in Te Waipounamu. Māori experience both worse outcomes and different patterns of incidence in gut diseases than non-Māori. Overall, Māori have lower life expectancies than non-Māori and experience barriers to accessing determinants of health. This study, published in MAI Journal, aims to illuminate how Māori understand the gut and navigate the health system when the topic is the gut and gut disease.

Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)

Nationwide Implementation of Unguided Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Depression: Observational Study of SPARX
The objective of this study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is to evaluate uptake, adherence, and changes in symptoms of depression for 12- to 19-year-olds using an unguided pure self-help iCBT intervention (SPARX; Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts) during the first 7 years of it being publicly available without referral in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Increased Immunisation (New Zealand)

HPV vaccination in Aotearoa New Zealand: Impact of a school-based program on adolescent vaccine coverage
In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), differing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs are utilised. In the present study, this article, published in Vaccine, describes one-dose HPV vaccination coverage under a school-based vaccination program (SBVP) in NZ and coverage under a primary care practice-based program, or mixed-model program (non-SBVP), amongst adolescents born 13 years earlier.

Smoking Cessation (New Zealand)

A hopeful journey: responses to efficacy labels from people using RYO tobacco in Aotearoa New Zealand
Although many countries have introduced pictorial warning labels (PWLs), few use efficacy labels or inserts offering supportive cessation advice or outlining benefits of quitting. Theory and evidence suggest efficacy labels foster positive responses to the threats presented rather than elicit maladaptive responses that manage the fear aroused. This study, published in Tobacco Control, explored how people who smoke roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco responded to potential on-pack efficacy labels that could complement PWLs by promoting self-efficacy and response-efficacy.

Smoking Cessation (International)

Using social media for addressing vaping among young people in the Pacific Small Island Developing States: a systematic review
Vaping is now the most common form of tobacco use among young people, despite potential harms. The Western Pacific region (WPRO) has one of the highest numbers of young vapers among the World Health Organization regions. This is concerning as it holds some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, such as the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSID), with severe health burdens. Social media has been demonstrated by previous research as an effective medium for influencing the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of young people about the harms associated with vaping. However, these studies have been conducted in high-income countries, and to our knowledge, no social media interventions addressing vaping among young people have been tested within the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Therefore, this review, published in Pacific Health Dialog, aims to explore the effectiveness of using social media for addressing vaping among young people, identify features associated with success and consider the applicability of this study to the PSID regions.

Effectiveness of Self-Help Smoking Cessation Programs in the 21st Century: A Systematic Review
Due to the diversity of self-help smoking cessation programs, the effects of those programs on smoking and the factors involved in their efficacy remain unclear, with contradictory results. The purpose of this review, published in the Journal of Addictions Nursing, was to systematically analyse literature from 2000 to 2023 to evaluate the effectiveness of various self-help smoking cessation programs including a follow-up at 6 months postintervention and to identify if any specific type of material proved to be more effective than others.

Oral Health (New Zealand)

Exploring child abuse and neglect responses: Qualitative insights from oral health practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand
Child abuse and neglect (CAN) remain significant concerns in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), with persistent inequities affecting indigenous Māori communities. Oral health practitioners (OHPs) are uniquely positioned to support CAN prevention and response through regular interactions with children via national dental care programs. The objective of this study, published in Child Abuse & Neglect, was to explore the experiences and perspectives of OHPs in CAN prevention, identification, and response, and identify actionable strategies to enhance their responsiveness across dental settings.

Oral Health (International)

Social Media as a Tool for Oral Health Promotion: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Content-Analysis Studies Across Digital Platforms
Social media has emerged as a powerful and accessible platform for health communication, including the promotion of oral health among diverse population groups. The present umbrella review, published in Cureus, synthesised evidence from five systematic reviews and content-analysis studies published between 2022 and 2025 to evaluate the role of social media as a tool for oral health promotion across various digital platforms.

Key Ministry of Health Publications

Determining our Future: Social, Cultural, Economic and Commercial Determinants of Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: Actions to improve our health and wellbeing
 ‘Determining our Future’ is the first major report on determinants of health and equity in Aotearoa in over 25 years. The report examines trends since 2000 in the distribution of the determinants of health (such as income, housing, cultural identity and social cohesion) and in health outcomes, and why these are unevenly distributed in our society. It looks forward to 2040, and assesses challenges to health equity and wellbeing, including the impacts of commercial interests and of the ‘megatrends’ - the climate crisis, AI and digital technology.

Health Sector Initiative

Whanganui delivering gold-standard breast cancer care
Breast cancer patients at Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora Whanganui are now receiving gold-standard care closer to home, thanks to the successful rollout of advanced diagnostic and surgical technology. The integration of the new mammography machine and nuclear medicine has transformed the way breast cancer is treated locally, making it faster, safer, and more accessible.

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.