A service evaluation to explore Māori experiences of direct-acting antiviral hepatitis C treatment in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aims: Hepatitis C, and its associated life-limiting sequalae, disproportionately affect Māori. Despite availability of fully funded effective and well-tolerated oral direct-acting anti-viral agents (DAA), many in New Zealand remain untreated. This service evaluation aimed to explore the experiences of Māori who have received DAA treatment for hepatitis C, and their ideas for service improvement.

Tuberculosis and diabetes: increased hospitalisations and mortality associated with renal impairment.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) triples a person's risk of active tuberculosis (TB) and is associated with increased mortality. It is unclear whether diabetes status and/or the associated renal dysfunction is associated with poor TB outcomes in New Zealand, which has high diabetes screening.

Aim: To characterise the population of TB-DM and TB-alone to assess the effect of diabetes status and renal function on hospitalisation and mortality.

Towards elimination of tuberculosis in New Zealand.

New Zealand could be the first country in the world to eliminate tuberculosis (TB). We propose a TB elimination strategy based on the eight-point World Health Organization (WHO) action framework for low incidence countries. Priority actions recommended by the WHO include 1) ensure political commitment, funding and stewardship for planning and essential services; 2) address the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups; 3) address special needs of migrants and cross-border issues; 4) identify active TB and undertake screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in recent TB contacts and selected high-risk groups, and provide appropriate treatment; 5) optimise the prevention and care of drug-resistant TB; 6) ensure continued surveillance, programme monitoring and evaluation and case-based data management; 7) invest in research and new tools; and 8) support global TB prevention, care and control.

Markedly different clustering of CVD risk factors in New Zealand Indian and European people but similar risk scores (PREDICT-14).

Objective: To compare the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profiles of Indian and European patients from routine primary care assessments in the northern region of New Zealand.

Method: Anonymous CVD risk profiles were extracted from PREDICT (a web-based decision support program) for Indian and European patients aged 35-74 years. Linear regression models were used to obtain mean differences adjusted for age, gender and deprivation.