Health Improvement and Innovation Digest - 23 July 2026
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Issue 347 - 23 July 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
This article, published in Fourth World Journal, examines how Māori healers navigate the reclamation and revitalisation of rongoā Māori as a locus of cultural identity, bodily sovereignty, and intergenerational resilience.
Health Equity (International)
Despite the many existing implementation methods, theories, and frameworks, implementation science is insufficiently closing the research-to-practice gap. Bridging this gap is critical to achieving healthy and thriving communities globally, and requires implementation processes that promote equity and reach diverse populations, especially those most in need. The aim of this scoping review, published in Systematic Reviews, was to identify, thematically analyse, categorise, and provide examples of implementation processes described in equity-focused literature, with a focus on health and social care interventions for children and adolescents from birth to 18 years of age.
Nutrition & Physical Activity (International)
Childhood obesity is a major global public health concern. Although physical activity is recognised as an effective non‐pharmacological intervention, most existing evidence synthesis has primarily focused on the role of physical activity in preventing obesity, with limited attention given to its effects on managing children with obesity. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to synthesise evidence on the benefits and harms of physical activity for the management of obesity in children up to 9 years of age.
Health behaviours (diet, physical activity, and sleep) have been identified as potential targets for improving symptoms of adolescent depression, yet no comprehensive review has evaluated the collective evidence. This umbrella review, published in The Journal of Adolescent Health, aimed to synthesise current systematic review evidence on the effects of diet, sleep, and physical activity on depression in children and adolescents.
Cancer Services (New Zealand)
Despite well-documented inequities in colorectal cancer outcomes between Māori and non-Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand, the underlying contributors to these disparities remain incompletely understood. In particular, there is limited data on the characteristics of colorectal polyps in Māori to inform the conduct of the National Bowel Screening Programme. This retrospective cohort study, published in ANZ Journal of Surgery, was performed including adult Māori patients who underwent colonoscopy at Waikato Hospital between 2022 and 2024, with an age-matched sample of non-Māori patients. Comparisons were made between groups for disease burden, histological subtypes, and distribution of colorectal polyps and cancer.
Emergency Department Services (International)
Emergency department (ED) crowding is a critical and persistent challenge in healthcare systems globally, with particularly acute effects in the UK. It is associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality, delays in care delivery, and significant staff burnout. The multifactorial nature of crowding - spanning input, throughput and output factors - necessitates a comprehensive and system-wide response. This article, published in Emergency Nurse, explores evidence-based strategies to mitigate ED crowding, focusing on the pivotal role of advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) in senior-first clinical assessment, diagnostic streamlining and admission avoidance pathways.
Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)
This research, published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, aimed to gain an understanding of rheumatic fever related echocardiography experiences from Indigenous Maaori and Pacific children, adolescents and their whaanau (family members) in the Counties Manukau region of Aotearoa New Zealand to improve these services.
Māori experience a disproportionate burden of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with ongoing inequities in access, continuity, and outcomes of care. While culturally responsive approaches are recognised as important, limited qualitative research centers kaumātua (Māori elders aged 50 years and over) voices in evaluating current diabetes care and informing service redesign. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, was to explore kaumātua and Māori health providers' perspectives on the cultural responsiveness, strengths, and limitations of current T2DM management in New Zealand, and to examine perceived opportunities for community-embedded and mobile models of care.x
This Review, published in Nature Reviews: Cardiology, describes the burden of cardiovascular disease across Indigenous populations and contextualises the potential drivers and contributors to inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. The focus is on Indigenous populations across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, American Indian, Alaska Native, Canadian First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Māori, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander peoples.
Primary Health Care (New Zealand)
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) disproportionately affects Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand, with higher incidence, prevalence, and hospitalisation rates than non‐Māori, non‐Pacific populations. Despite this inequity, little qualitative research has explored how Pacific peoples and their families experience living with COPD, or their perspectives on emerging digital health technologies. This study, published in Health Expectations, adopted a qualitative design informed by talanoa methodology to explore the experiences of Pacific peoples living with COPD and their family caregivers.
Primary Mental Health (International)
Psychologists in primary care have the potential to deliver interventions targeting behavioural risk factors for long-term conditions and can support self-management of physical and mental health conditions. The British Psychological Society recommends that psychology be embedded routinely into primary care. However, this is not yet implemented. This study, published in Applied Psychology, aimed to explore how the role of psychology professionals has been co-located/integrated within primary care and synthesise views and experiences of patients, primary care staff and psychology professionals to inform future practice.
People in mental distress are best supported by mental health services, yet initial contact often occurs with the police. In many jurisdictions, police may detain and transport individuals at risk to healthcare providers (e.g., emergency departments). This article, published in Community Mental Health Journal, reviews the literature on models of transfer of care from police to healthcare to identify the types of models reported, the outcomes associated with their implementation and possible factors influencing outcomes.
Smoking Cessation (International)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people report disproportionately high rates of tobacco use, driven by the tobacco industry and sustained through coloniality. This paper, published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, explored the effectiveness of culturally tailored, community-led cessation strategies.
Oral Health (New Zealand)
There is a high level of unmet need for dental care in Aotearoa New Zealand due to the inability of people facing socio-economic disadvantage to afford optimal and timely care. This includes many Māori. This paper, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal, describes a joint initiative between a philanthropic organisation, Trinity Koha Dental Clinic, and Tūranga Health, an iwi-based health provider based in Gisborne. The service was designed for those with high needs and involved provision of dental care at no cost to the patients (addressing affordability as a barrier). It was also designed to address other barriers to access.
Key Ministry of Health Publications
The End of Life Choice Act 2019 (the Act) came into force on the 7 November 2021. This established the Assisted Dying – Ngā Ratonga Mate Whakaahuru service in New Zealand Aotearoa. The Ministry of Health is responsible for the administration of the Act. The Act requires the Registrar (assisted dying) to report to the Minister of Health about the operation of the service by 30 June each year. This Registrar (assisted dying) Annual Report covers the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. In addition to information required by the Act, this report summarises information relating to the Ministry’s regulation and monitoring of the service, service usage, workforce and feedback about the service.
Health Sector Initiative
Taranaki patients with fractures are being diagnosed and put on an appropriate treatment plan faster under a new radiology practice, a research paper has found. Medical Imaging Technologist, Kim Lewis looked into Preliminary Image Evaluation (PIE) use at Taranaki Base Hospital for her master’s thesis. Lewis researched the benefits of PIE to see what effect training and feedback had on a radiographer’s ability to detect and describe fractures in the emergency department.
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.