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Health Improvement & Innovation Digest - Ministry of Health

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Issue 333 - 13 November 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.

You can forward this newsletter to others who may be interested in receiving it. They can register and subscribe here. You can also access other recent issues of the digest here.

If you have any queries, please email us at library@health.govt.nz.


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


"You're the touch point": Indigenous Māori solutions for culturally safe hand therapyCulturally safe rehabilitation must be informed by service user perspectives, including those of Indigenous people. However, little is known about Māori patient experiences of rehabilitation in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly in hand therapy. This study, published in Disability and Rehabilitation, explored Māori experiences and their proposed solutions to enhance culturally safe hand therapy services.


Health Equity (New Zealand)


Antibiotic-resistant infections (ARIs) disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, yet research of health inequalities in ARIs is limited. This scoping review, published in JAC Antimicrobial Resistance, explores the relationship between health inequalities factors and the risk of ARI in high-income countries.



Pandemics, such as COVID-19, and climate change-related catastrophic weather events are increasing, impacting social connectedness within communities by disrupting social cohesion, increasing loneliness, and affecting mental health and social well-being. Digital technology, in addition to being used for communication, education, and business transactions, also plays a vital role in maintaining a country's health and well-being, as well as sustaining economic growth. This study, published in JMIR Aging, aimed to explore the experiences of Māori kaumātua in using digital technology to meet their health needs within Ngāti Kahungunu, North Island, New Zealand, during the COVID-19 pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle.


Nutrition & Physical Activity (New Zealand)


Universal, healthy school meal programs can address poor nutrition, improve educational outcomes and job and life opportunities, and support environmental sustainability. While many countries have extensive experience with such programs, New Zealand's initiative (Ka Ora, Ka Ako) was launched in 2020 as part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy and, by 2024, reached over 236,000 (~ 27%) school students. This study, published in BMC Public Health, aimed to assess the value generated from the investment (~ NZD320 million/year) in Ka Ora, Ka Ako and its potential for further value creation.


The objective of this article, published in Public Health Nutrition, was to examine how school food policies and perceived barriers influence food provision in New Zealand primary school canteens, using the 'Healthy Food and Drink Guidance for Schools.'


Nutrition & Physical Activity (International)



Increasing evidence highlights the importance of schools in promoting both physical activity (PA) and mental health. However, previous findings on the effects of school-based PA on the mental health of children and adolescents are mostly based on short-term interventions. A synthesis of evidence is needed on the mental health effects of long-term PA promotion, which is more sustainably integrated into the school structures. In addition, a more comprehensive examination of mental health, considering internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, mental well-being, and social well-being, is needed. The aim of this systematic review, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, was to investigate the effects of long-term school-based PA promotion on the mental health of 7-16-year-old children and adolescents.


Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)


The Pacific Islander and Māori community in Queensland are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes mellitus and suboptimal diabetes outcomes have been attributed to medication nonadherence. The study, published in AlterNative, explored how Pacific Islander and Māori peoples with type 2 diabetes mellitus approach medication adherence.



New approaches are needed to respond to increasing numbers of patients with type 2 diabetes and high HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin). This pilot supported additional care from five primary care nurses and community pharmacists for people with type 2 diabetes with high HbA1c. AIM: The objective of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to describe uptake, outcomes and experiences of a collaborative pharmacy and general practice diabetes programme.



The primary objective of this study, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal, was to explore type 2 diabetes (T2D) awareness, knowledge, attitudes and risk factors among youth in Auckland.


Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (International)



This study, published in the International Journal of Nursing Practice, aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of nurse‐led self‐management interventions on self‐management behaviours and self‐efficacy in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus.



The aim of this review, published in the International Journal of Nursing Practice, was to evaluate the evidence for implementation strategies for evidence‐based diabetic foot ulcer care in healthcare settings.


Primary Health Care (New Zealand)



Pacific children in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), are four times more likely than non-Pacific and non-Māori children to be hospitalised for a skin infection. The Auckland region has the highest hospitalisation rates for skin infections in NZ. Tongan peopleare the second largest group of the Pacific diaspora in the Auckland region, yet they are underrepresented in research. The study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, aimed to understand how Tongan mothers living in Auckland care for skin infections affecting their children.



This update, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal, revises the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ’s Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Guidelines in line with the latest national and international evidence. The aim is to provide simple, practical, evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis, assessment and management of COPD in clinical practice in an Aotearoa New Zealand context.


Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)



Māori youth of Aotearoa New Zealand are experiencing widening inequities in mental health when compared to Pākehā youth. This study, published in BMC Public Health, used an ecological approach to investigate key risk and protective factors for Māori to help prioritise actions.



Traditional mental health acute inpatient treatment has been described as harmful and traumatic. Peer-led community-based treatment is a new alternative model of care in New Zealand, whereby acute mental health treatment is provided in a home-like environment delivered by peer specialists with lived experience. This mixed-methods process evaluation, published in International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, compared socio-demographic and admission data from a peer-led acute service with those of a local public acute mental health hospital.


Increased Immunisation (New Zealand)



In New Zealand, lower immunisation coverage is seen among those of Māori and Pacific ethnicity, as well as in communities with higher levels of socioeconomic deprivation. However, the impact of rurality on routine childhood immunisations has been incompletely investigated. This study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, aims to measure the effect of rurality on second-dose measles-mumps-rubella vaccination (MMR2) within the Taranaki region.



Antenatal immunisation rates for influenza and pertussis in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) are low and inequitable. Culturally appropriate interventions are urgently needed. This study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, aims to identify and prioritise culturally appropriate, equitable interventions to improve antenatal immunisation rates in NZ.


Smoking Cessation (New Zealand)



Ethnic inequities in health and mortality in Aotearoa/New Zealand have been driven in part by historic and ongoing inequities in smoking prevalence, with Māori and Pacific peoples most affected. Although overall smoking rates among year 10 students aged 14–15 years have declined substantially in recent decades, recent analyses suggested that e-cigarette use (vaping) may have slowed the decline in ever- and regular-smoking, while having little or no impact on daily smoking. However, it remains unclear whether these patterns differ for Māori, Pacific, European, or Asian adolescents. The aim of this study, published in The Lancet: Western Pacific, was to assess changes in smoking trends before and after the emergence of vaping in Aotearoa among 14–15-year-old Māori, Pacific, European, and Asian adolescents.


Smoking Cessation (International)



Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable disease and death worldwide. While quitting significantly reduces health risks, many individuals struggle to quit using traditional methods. With increasing access to mobile technology, gamified digital interventions have emerged as a novel approach to support smoking cessation. The aim of the review, published in Cureus, was to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification-based digital interventions in promoting smoking cessation, focusing on user engagement, abstinence rates, motivation, and implementation challenges.


Key Ministry of Health Publications



The monitoring of Whakamaua is made up of three main parts: quantitative monitoring, evaluative monitoring, and delivery monitoring. The insights gained from these three types of monitoring create an important feedback loop to identify challenges and successes throughout the implementation of Whakamaua.


Ministry of Health Consultations & Events



The National Cervical Screening Programme (NCSP) was established in 1990 following recommendations from the Cartwright Inquiry (1988) to deliver a national cervical screening programme and aims to reduce cervical cancer rates through HPV primary screening, targeting individuals aged 25 – 69. Your response to this survery will help us understand how the National Cervical Screening Programme is working and where improvements could be made to better serve communities across Aotearoa New Zealand. This survey closes on the 21st of November.


Health Sector Initiative



Te Taura Ora o Waiariki Iwi Māori Partnership Board is changing how Māori health data is accessed, understood, and used for its people. Its members took their first step in training for the new Māori data platform that will give clarity on their own health trends. The wānanga, held in Taupō alongside governance members and three neighbouring Iwi Māori Partnership Board's (IMPB's), marked the beginning of Māori data sovereignty - ensuring information about Māori is stored and interpreted using a for Māori, by Māori approach.


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.


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