Ministry of Health - Health Improvement & Innovation Digest
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Issue 341 - 30 April 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
Māori are disproportionately affected by out‐of‐hospital deaths due to higher rates of cardiac arrest and lower survival outcomes. Ambulance personnel are often the only healthcare professionals present during events, making their role in supporting bereaved whānau ( families ) critical. However, it remains unclear if current bereavement care meets whānau cultural and spiritual needs. Using kaupapa Māori research principles, this qualitative interview study, published in Kōtuitui, explores the experiences of bereaved Māori whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand to understand their experiences during an out‐of‐hospital death when emergency ambulance services respond.
This paper, published in New Zealand Medical Journal, describes the development of an Indigenous-informed paediatric palliative care framework for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Health Equity (New Zealand)
Developing models of aged care that align with Māori aspirations has been identified as a national priority in a recent report by the New Zealand (NZ) Aged Care Commissioner. This study, published in the Australasian Journal on Ageing, aimed to identify key considerations useful for informing Māori aged care and to identify known gaps and proposed solutions, which could be prioritised in health and social service design, delivery and implementation, and for investigation in future research.
This study, published in Pacific Health Dialog, explored the experiences of Pacific service providers in Aotearoa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite universal healthcare provision, Māori-the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand-continue to experience persistent inequities across all major health indicators. While these disparities are well documented, fewer studies centre Māori voices in describing how inequity is lived and felt within everyday healthcare encounters. This study, published in Social Science & Medicine, draws on stories from Māori contributors shared through Wāhi Kōrero, a national online story-sharing platform from 11 April to 31 August 2024.
Health Equity (International)
This study, published in Pacific Health Dialog, explores Pacific healthcare educational leaders' perspectives on transforming health professions education (HPE) from colonial legacies towards culturally responsive approaches.
Cancer Services (New Zealand)
What Is the Evidence Base Regarding Early Onset Colorectal Cancer in Australia and New Zealand? A Scoping ReviewEarly onset colorectal cancer (EoCRC), commonly defined as colorectal cancer diagnosed in people under 50 years of age, is increasing in incidence in Australia and New Zealand. The underlying cause of this remains unclear, despite its growing public health importance. The objective of this scoping review, published in ANZ Journal of Surgery, was to comprehensively map and synthesise the literature for EoCRC across Australia and New Zealand, focusing on themes and data sources.
Cervical cancer persists in Aotearoa New Zealand, mainly due to under-screening. Longstanding disparities in screening and cancer rates remain for Māori, Pacific and people not regularly screened. Community pharmacies are an important and accessible part of primary care. The aim of this study, published in Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy, was to outline and provide potential models of pharmacy involvement in the provision of HPV self-testing.
Child cancer is a traumatic experience that challenges family functioning. While most treatment facilities offer psychosocial support, community services for families seeking independent support or for those not currently on treatment are limited. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Child Cancer counselling Network (CCCN) was developed to provide specialised counselling support via a national network of mental health professionals, available at any point during the cancer journey. This study, published in the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, aimed to evaluate the program from the perspective of parent users.
Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention strategies are predominantly informed by studies conducted in men from the general population, which can disadvantage women-particularly Indigenous women-whose CVD needs differ in terms of symptom presentation, healthcare access, receipt of guideline-recommended care and sociocultural roles. This review, published in Health Promotion International, aims to summarise the effectiveness of CVD prevention interventions in Indigenous women in the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Pacific peoples, including Tongans, experience disproportionately higher rates of type 2 diabetes and related complications. There is an urgent need for innovative, culturally appropriate interventions to improve outcomes. This study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, aimed to determine the impact of continuous glucose monitoring devices with cultural wrap-around support on medium-term glycaemic control and other type 2 diabetes biomarkers in Tongan adults with high-risk type 2 diabetes.
Primary Mental Health (International)
Mental health systems are a critical component of health system performance in Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs), yet evidence remains uneven across settings. This scoping review, published in The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, mapped available evidence on mental health system performance in each PICT using the WHO Health System Building Blocks framework.
Increased Immunisation (New Zealand)
Despite excellent evidence for the effectiveness of vaccines and their inclusion within multiple clinical guidelines, vaccination coverage remains sub-optimal and inequitable in countries around the world, including in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Interventions in primary care, and involving primary care providers, can be especially helpful to improve vaccination coverage. This review, published in Vaccine, explores research published between 2015 and 2024 that described either interventions, or barriers and enablers, to improving vaccination coverage for medically high-risk and underserved populations.
Increased Immunisation (International)
The objective of this article, published in BMJ, was to identify the effective components of interventions to increase vaccine uptake and to explore variations in effectiveness by population group and in relation to the covid-19 pandemic.
Smoking Cessation (New Zealand)
Indigenous Peoples experience disproportionately high rates of commercial tobacco use and smoking-related illness. Although pharmacotherapies are effective in the general population, their effectiveness among Indigenous communities remains uncertain. This systematic review, published in Preventive Medicine Reports, synthesised randomized controlled trials evaluating pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation among Indigenous adults.
Smoking Cessation (International)
Tobacco smoking is a leading preventable cause of pregnancy complications with serious long‐term impacts on women and babies. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effects of psychosocial interventions provided to support pregnant women who are currently smoking or have recently quit, on smoking abstinence, continued postpartum abstinence, and infant outcomes.
Health Sector Initiative
Abuse of older people can be hard to pick up - that's why Dr Kathy Peri has created a new elder abuse assessment tool.
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.