Public Health Association Conference Begins Today

MEDIA RELEASE PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION

For immediate use 1 July 2008

Diverse Public Health Association Conference Begins Today

Nearly 330 delegates from overseas and around the country have gathered for a conference hosted by the Public Health Association. The conference runs from 2 to 4 July.

The theme of the conference is “Tapu, noa... ...environmental, physical or both?” Broadly translated, this refers to health and safety across social, cultural, political and physical environments. For instance, how housing, transport and the provision of green spaces affect our health.

This means the three day conference will include very diverse presentations including research findings into the influence of tobacco power walls on 14 and 15 year olds, a plea from frontline violence workers for health professionals to be pro-active in identifying a background of family violence in their patients, and the findings of ANA research into the influence the family environment exerts on food habits.

The conference is the biggest event on the 2008 public health calendar and will include papers from people working on issues that have become ‘hot topics’, such as the inequalities in survival and treatment of cervical cancer between Maori and non-Maori women; how a collaboration between three government departments reduced hospital admissions in a group of Hawke’s Bay families by two-thirds; who gains from gambling policy: community or council, and making the big dream of a non violent New Zealand do-able.

Keynote speakers include Chief Executive of the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, Dr Colin Tukuitonga; Deputy Director of Public Health Dr Fran McGrath; Public Health Director for the Problem Gambling Foundation Dr Kawshi De Silva; Professor John Raeburn QSO; Associate Professor Papaarangi Reid, Professor Tony Blakeley from the University of Otago; and Green MP Sue Bradford.

The conference is the biggest event on the 2008 public health calendar and will provide a stimulating examination of current public health practice and where it may be heading in the future.

Media are invited to attend the whole or any part of the conference. For all media inquiries or information about the conference please contact conference media advisor Liz Price 0276 957 744. The conference is being held at Waitangi.

ENDS

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