Ministry of Health Library - Health Improvement & Innovation Digest
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Issue 348 - 24 August 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.
Health Equity (New Zealand)
Culturally safe health care relies on partnering with Indigenous communities to determine and meet their care needs. For Māori, the head - and particularly the roro (brain) - is regarded as the most tapu (sacred) part of the body, yet there are currently no national-level guidelines for conducting neuroimaging in Aotearoa. This study, published in Brain Impairment, describes Māori experiences and their cultural considerations for neuroimaging practices offers opportunities to support culturally safe neuroimaging practice.
Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand have poorer outcomes and experiences when accessing adult mental health services (MHS), including higher rates of seclusion and compulsory treatment. These inequities for Māori represent a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the constitutional foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand, and stem from over a 100 years of European colonisation involving massive confiscation of Māori land, population decline, and suppression of Māori identity and culture. The recent New Zealand mental health Inquiry, He Ara Oranga, emphasised the need to transform the cultural responsiveness of mental health services for Māori. Similar issues were highlighted by Dr. Irihapeti Ramsden who pioneered the concept of cultural safety for Māori in nursing practice, which when applied to Māori consumers is referred to as 'Kawa Whakaruruhau'. This qualitative study, published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, explored 10 Māori and non-Māori senior nursing leaders' perspectives on the status of Kawa Whakaruruhau and Cultural Safety for Māori consumers (tāngata whaiora) and their family (whānau) accessing adult MHS in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
This study, published in Nutrition & Dietetics, aimed to explore the experiences of Māori dietitians and students in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a focus on how racism, marginalism and tokenism affect their training, workplaces and wellbeing.
Nutrition & Physical Activity (New Zealand)
Brown Buttabean Motivation (BBM) is a community-based, Māori- and Pacific-led organisation providing free exercise classes and other support services in Aotearoa New Zealand. Ongoing participant engagement is critical for the success of community lifestyle programmes. This study, published in the Journal of Primary Healthcare, aimed to co-develop a systems logic model (Causal Loop Diagram) of the drivers of long-term engagement in BBM classes and activities.
Nutrition & Physical Activity (International)
Obesity is a global public health issue and a major contributor to non‐communicable diseases. In recent decades, the prevalence of obesity in adolescents has risen at an alarming rate. Although several systematic reviews have evaluated the effects of physical activity for the management of obesity in adolescents, key limitations remain in the literature, particularly in reporting completeness and the lack of standardised assessments of the certainty of evidence. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to synthesise evidence on the benefits and harms of physical activity interventions for the management of obesity in adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years.
Public Health (New Zealand)
The global burden of disease arising from exposure to inadequate housing is a significant public health concern. In New Zealand over 25,000 children are hospitalized annually with preventable housing-related conditions, with Māori and Pacific children particularly at risk. The Healthy Homes Initiative (HHI) is a community-led, government-funded, multicomponent intervention aimed at improving health outcomes for children at risk of housing-related illness in low-income families. This study, published in Social Science & Medicine, examined hospitalisations for children enrolled in the HHI between 2014 and 2023.
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.
Annual Diabetes Reviews (ADRs) are a key Ministry of Health initiative designed to ensure comprehensive annual assessment for people with diabetes in Aotearoa New Zealand. Although national guidance outlines core components, the consistency with which ADRs are delivered across primary care remains unclear. This study, published in the Journal of Primary Healthcare, aims to assess the structure, components, and delivery of ADRs in general practices, identifying gaps and opportunities for improving diabetes care.
Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is an autoimmune response to group A Streptococcus (Strep A) infection that can lead to rheumatic heart disease (RHD). To prevent Strep A infection for people with ARF or RHD, clinical guidelines recommend monthly intramuscular penicillin (Bicillin L-A®) injections for at least 10 years. However, multiple barriers to accessing healthcare affect adherence. This research, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal, aimed to improve adherence by developing a Māori and Pacific–centred model of care.
Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (International)
Obesity and its associated comorbidities, particularly type 2 diabetes (T2D), have reached epidemic dimensions globally. Both conditions are related to an increased risk of serious health outcomes and impose a substantial burden on those affected. Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) may offer a therapeutic option for achieving sustained weight loss, improving comorbidities and thereby enhancing long‐term quality of life. The aim of this Cochrane Review was to investigate the medium‐ and long‐term benefits and harms of different MBS procedures compared with each other and to non‐surgical treatment on outcomes relevant to adults with obesity and T2D, and to obtain a clinically meaningful ranking of these interventions by considering both randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies.
Given the paucity of evidence on diabetes and associated risk factors among Pasifika communities in Australia, this analysis, published in Medical Sciences, aimed to estimate the prevalence of diabetes and associated risk factors in this population.
Primary Health Care (New Zealand)
The aim of this study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, was to identify and synthesise published literature on barriers and facilitators to equitable access to long-acting reversible contraception in New Zealand, with a particular focus on wāhine Māori.
Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) experience large and persistent inequities in infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Appropriate antibiotic prescribing is one component of effective care that can be supported by the use of antibiotic guidelines. This study, published in the Journal of Primary Healthcare, aimed to gain insights into the perspectives of Māori regarding antibiotic guideline use in primary care and explore alignment with their expectations and aspirations for health and wellbeing.
Culturally responsive support is essential for Indigenous mothers to sustain breastfeeding; however, tailored support remains limited. For thousands of years Indigenous women have nourished their infants and children through breastfeeding, as the primary source of nutrition and an important cultural and spiritual practice. In Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States (CANZUS), Indigenous breastfeeding practices have been disrupted by the ongoing impacts of colonisation. This scoping review, published in Women and Birth, aimed to identify breastfeeding supports for Indigenous women in CANZUS countries, whether the supports had been evaluated, describe their development, and explore women's experiences accessing and using these supports.
Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)
Non-Māori with mental health and substance use conditions experience relative privilege evident in health outcomes when compared to Māori (the Indigenous population) in New Zealand. This paper, published in Qualitative Health Research, will explore physical healthcare experiences for Māori with a mental health and/or substance use condition.
Smoking Cessation (International)
Tobacco use is a major preventable cause of morbidity and mortality, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) may address the cognitive, behavioral, and relapse-related mechanisms that sustain smoking. This review, published in Tobacco Induced Diseases, evaluated the efficacy of CBT for smoking cessation by synthesising controlled studies reporting smoking abstinence and smoking reduction outcomes.
Key Ministry of Health Publications
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026–2036 sets a clear 10-year direction for improving mental health, addiction and wellbeing outcomes for all New Zealanders.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy: Implementation Plan (2026/27–2028/29) sets out the key activities that will be implemented to support delivery of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026–2036.
A Place to Grow Old: Securing the future of aged care is a report by the independent Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group. The group was established by the Government in late 2025 to provide expert advice on the changes needed to ensure New Zealand’s aged care system is sustainable and effective into the future. The report examines the growing pressures on the current system, proposes structural reforms, and outlines options for creating a sustainable funding model.
The Māori Health Strategy 2026 – Whiria Te Ora (to weave wellbeing) sets a clear, needs-based direction for improving health outcomes for Māori over the next five years. The Strategy focuses on delivering improvements in the areas that will make the biggest difference to increasing Māori life expectancy and the health of Māori across the life course and across generations, with healthy futures – pae ora – as the enduring vision. It identifies opportunities for the health system to act early to promote health and prevent illness, deliver safe and timely access to quality care, sustain a strong and responsive health care workforce and provider network, and enable Māori leadership to drive system performance and innovation.
This report summarises insights and themes gathered from engaging with Māori communities, health providers, iwi, and sector partners about the development of the Māori Health Strategy. These engagements took place in September and October 2024.
Health Sector Initiative
More than 2,000 patients waiting for their first specialist assessment (FSA) have now been seen through a series of weekend ‘super clinics’ at Taranaki Base Hospital, helping to halve wait times for both Orthopaedic and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) patients from 18 to nine months.
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.