Oto reached out to Paula Lorgelly, a professor of Health Economics and Population Health at the University of Auckland for an expert opinion on the end of Free Covid Test distribution.
From Monday this week onwards, Rapid Antigen Tests would not be provided from pharmacies freely and would instead need to be purchased directly from retailers.
A pack of 5 covid tests would cost $16.99 at Chemist Warehouse, for example.
Recently there has been a spike in reported violence within schools across the country.
In March, The Education Review Offices’ Education Evaluation head, Ruth Shinoda, discussed a report into the findings with RNZ, saying that New Zealand ranks amongst the worst for disruptive behaviour in classrooms, with this only increasing in the past few years.
In 2022, 29% of the total number of students stood down in schools were due to physical assaults on other students, with 3% being stood down for physical assaults on staff members.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Professional Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Brian Marsh, about this rise in violence, and how these rising statistics stem from students being in isolation during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Associate Health Minister, Casey Costello, is pushing for smokers to switch to Heated Tobacco Products, otherwise known as HTPs, as an alternative to other forms of smoking, for what she says is a part of a solution to try work towards Smokefree 2025.
The plan, which aims to get 7000 people to switch to HTPs, will result in a cut of 50% to excise tax to the products at a cost of up to $216 million.
Currently, tobacco giant, Philip Morris, owns a Monopoly of HTPs in New Zealand, which would mean that this company will solely profit off of the tax cuts.
Many are concerned that Costello is prioritising profits over actually working towards lowering tobacco usage within Aotearoa.
As well as this, Philip Morris’ HTPs, known as IQOS’ have recently been pulled from shelves over being classified as vapes, and therefore going against Labour’s vaping regulations, which require vaping products to have child safety mechanisms, as well as having removable batteries.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Professor of Health Economics at the University of Auckland, Paula Logelly, on Costello’s push for HTPs, and whether she believes that Costello is putting money over people’s health.
Recent statistics have shown that the population of Aotearoa is steadily growing older, with the number of people over the age of 65 expected to hit 1 million by 2028.
In line with this, discussions have begun on how New Zealand’s healthcare system can be adapted to better accommodate for the ageing population of Aotearoa, particularly in the field of end-of-life care.
As such, a team of researchers from the University of Auckland and Waikato have begun a project examining the current state of palliative care in Aotearoa and how clinicians can help kaumātua and whānau to make better decisions.
Oto spoke to Julie Harrison, an Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance at the University of Auckland who is part of the study, to discuss her research and findings.
Around Mid September, the coalition government issued a directive to departments across the public sector to refocus the delivery of services so that they would be prioritised on the basis of need instead of race.
In line with this, the government scrapped a policy requiring government agencies to ensure at least 8% of their annual procurement contracts were awarded to Māori businesses, as well as a Hawke's Bay health initiative granting free GP visits to young Māori and Pasifika.
The decision has been criticised by experts and members of the public, who say that ethnicity focused initiatives are needed to address health and wealth gaps between certain ethnic groups and the wider population of Aotearoa.
Oto spoke to Clair Mills, A senior lecturer at Te Kupenga Hauora Maori, the department of Maori health at the University of Auckland, and a medical specialist trained in public and population health, to discuss why Ethnicity focused-health initiatives are necessary.
Jonny talks to Chris Hipkins of the Labour Party for What's Up?, listen back to hear the Aural Emporium shenanigans, plus an interview with Josh ahead of the Exlpoding Rainbow Orchestra gig next week.
95bFM 
