health research studies in nz

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Leaders in Research

The MRINZ is a globally acclaimed leader in medical research, ranking among the top 1% of research institutions worldwide by SciVal. Our dedication to challenging dogma, expanding knowledge, and enhancing clinical practice drives us to publish an average of 75 peer-reviewed studies each year. With a focus on impact and leveraging our capabilities, we are committed to improving health outcomes, reducing inequities, and enhancing lives. Our rigorous research and high-quality evidence help set the standard for public health advancements and clinical practice improvements in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.

Education and Training

At MRINZ, we provide practical clinical research experience and training that can complement or constitute higher education studies, including PhDs, Masters, and Diplomas. Our partnerships with Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, University of Otago, Western Sydney University, Imperial College London, Montpellier University, and the University of Groningen make this possible. By studying with us, you'll receive exceptional mentorship and engage in leading medical research aimed at improving health outcomes and reducing inequities locally and globally.

MRINZ has become a world-leading independent clinical research organisation with independently verified research outputs greatly in excess of other New Zealand universities and competitive with the world’s leading universities. MRINZ's contributions are extraordinary and constitute a remarkable body of work from a single organisation.

Professor Ian Pavord University of Oxford

Support Through Participation

Without our valued study participants, our research wouldn't be possible. Whether you're driven by a passion for advancing medical science, a connection to future generations, or a desire to learn more about your own health, you can make a profound impact. Together, we can come together to work to improve health outcomes, reduce inequities, and enhance lives for generations to come.

Independence and Impartiality

The MRINZ operates as an autonomous research institute and is a registered charity ( ID—CC22439 ) . This independence empowers us to conduct research without external pressures or influences, safeguarding the integrity and objectivity of our work.

Commitment to Equity and Te Tiriti o Waitangi

The MRINZ is dedicated to fostering equity, honouring Te Ao Māori, and upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We actively support tangata whenua-led initiatives, ensuring that Māori perspectives and values play a pivotal role in shaping our research endeavours.

Transformation and Implementation

The MRINZ is motivated by the opportunity to enhance and revolutionise clinical practice. Our research has played a key role in advancing progress across diverse medical fields and influenced many treatment guidelines, positively impacting patient care at home and worldwide.

How do clinical trials work in New Zealand?

Information on ethics process, principles of research conduct, regulatory considerations, and research governance.

Researchers initiating clinical trials in New Zealand must take into consideration trial protocol and/or design, resource issues, ethics review, regulatory oversight, institutional policies, research governance and many other issues.

Standardised Indemnity and Compensation Agreements (sICA) have been developed by the New Zealand Association of Clinical Research (NZACRes) and are widely used within the New Zealand clinical trial industry. You can access sICA templates on the NZACRes website .

New Zealand has a world-class record of accomplishment with early phase and proof of concept trials validated by independent, clean and accurate clinical data. Overview of New Zealand Regulatory Enivronment

Medsafe is the Medicines and Medical Devices Regulatory Authority for New Zealand. Medsafe administers the regulatory application for clinical trials under Section 30 of the Medicines Act 1981, involving the use of new medicines, unregistered medicines, scientific assessment of gene technology and medical devices. Approvals are issued by Medsafe under a delegation from the Director-General of Health. Medsafe receives and processes applications, liaises with the relevant Health Research Council committee (Standing Committee on Therapeutic Trials (SCOTT) or Gene Technology Advisory Committee (GTAC)) and the applicant, and issues approval letters as part of the approval scheme for clinical trials. Further information about the scheme can be found in the Guideline on the Regulation of Therapeutic Products in New Zealand – Part 11: Clinical Trials – Regulatory Approval and Good Clinical Practice Requirements. You can find the current regulatory guidance on the Medsafe website. One component of the clinical trials scheme is the self-certification of sites that have study participants in residence while the clinical trial medicines are administered. Further information about the self-certification scheme can be found in Section 4 of the Guideline. A list of sites for which self-certification has been lodged with Medsafe can be reviewed on the Medsafe website.

Section 30 of the Medicines Act 1981 authorises the Director-General of Health to approve a clinical trial involving the use of new and unregistered medicines on the recommendation of the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC). The HRC maintains two standing committees to consider clinical trial applications and make recommendations to the Director-General. The Standing Committee on Therapeutic Trials (SCOTT) considers applications for new pharmaceutical-type medicines, and the Gene Technology Advisory Committee (GTAC) considers applications for trials involving new and unregistered gene and other biotechnology therapies. The Terms of Reference for these committees are published on the HRC website . The sponsor of a clinical trial should read these documents before submitting a regulatory approval application, as they provide guidance on the committee processes and the data requirements for applications to be considered by each committee.

Ethics committee approval is a separate process from regulatory approval under Section 30 of the Medicines Act 1981 and is not administered by Medsafe. The New Zealand Health and Disability Ethics Committee (HDEC) administers the ethics approval system, which applies to interventional clinical trials regardless of whether they are trials that require approval under Section 30 of the Medicines Act. Clinical trials that require sample collection and storage, or the use of disclosure of health information are in most cases also subject to ethics approval. In New Zealand only one ethics committee review is required per trial, and this covers all sites. Requirements relating to New Zealand HDEC approval of clinical trials are provided on the New Zealand HDEC website. Locality Authorisation for Ethics The term “Locality Authorisation” refers specifically to the process used by the NZ Health and Disability Ethics Committees (HDECs) for ascertaining that all local governance issues have been addressed at sites participating in a clinical trial. Locality Authorisation approval is required by all sites. To gain full approval for a clinical trial, an application requires approval from HDEC plus a Locality Authorisation. Guides, templates, and forms can be found on the HDEC website.

A national costing tool has been developed by the New Zealand Association of Clinical Research (NZACRes) and is widely used by sites to facilitate accurate and transparent trial costing and to support transparent price discussions. You can access the costing tool on the NZACRes website .

The Medicines Act 1981*, Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, and other legislation control the supply of medicines and medical devices in New Zealand. Ministry of Health approval is required for a trial before medicines can be imported into New Zealand. Detailed information about New Zealand’s medicine control requirements and relevant legislation can be found on the Ministry of Health’s website . Regulatory guidance for importing medical devices into New Zealand can be found on Medsafe’s website. ‍ *Note: The Therapeutic Products Bill passed Parliament in July 2023 and became the Therapeutic Products Act (2023). You can follow updates on regulatory changes here.

In accordance with Section 30 of the Medicines Act 1981, an application for a clinical trial of a new or unregistered medicine for approval for distribution in New Zealand must be lodged by, or in the name of, a person or company residing in New Zealand. Further guidance is also available in Section 3.3 of the Medsafe Guideline on the Regulation of Therapeutic Products in New Zealand .

All imports into New Zealand are subject to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and New Zealand Customs Import regulations. Detailed information about New Zealand’s importing requirements can be found on the MPI website. You can read more about materials shipping on the NZ Association of Clinical Research (NZACRes) website.

The aim is to provide accurate and balanced information for patients.  The focus of discussions should be to raise awareness of clinical trials and discuss the risks and benefits of participation. This is to ensure that patients can make a fully informed decision on participation in a clinical trial study. A Patient Information Form and Consent Form must be provided to the potential participant and completed. You can access templates on the HEDC website.

From 1 January 2011 all clinical trials conducted in New Zealand are expected to be conducted in accordance with the Note for Guidance on Good Clinical Practice (CPMP/ICH/135/95). This applies whether or not approval under the Medicines Act 1981 is required for the trial. In some cases, requirements set out in CPMP/ICH/135/95 do not cover or conflict with provisions in the Medicines Act or in other relevant New Zealand legislation (e.g. legislation relating to reporting requirements or the retention of records). For this reason, some of the requirements specified in CPMP/ICH/135/95 must be modified to achieve compliance with New Zealand law. ‍ Medsafe Guideline on the Regulation of Therapeutic Products in New Zealand.

Medical device developers looking for a rapid, cost effective means of gaining early proof of concept for their products should consider conducting their initial clinical trials in New Zealand. The simple, one ethics committee approval process in New Zealand does not currently require U.S FDA Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) filing prior to the start of the study. More information on Medical Devices – Regulatory Guidance on the Medsafe website.

Standardised Clinical Trial Research Agreements (sCTRA) have been developed by the New Zealand Association of Clinical Research (NZACRes) and are widely used within the New Zealand clinical trial industry. You can access sCTRA templates on the NZACRes website .

In July 2022, New Zealand’s, twenty District Health Boards (DHBs) were disestablished. To begin reforming the health system , the DHBs’ functions were merged into Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, which now leads the day-to-day running of the system for the whole country. Te Whatu Ora also assumed the operational functions of the Ministry of Health, such as managing national contracts. An interim Māori Health Authority was also established in September 2021, ahead of the creation of Te Aka Whai Ora – Māori Health Authority as an autonomous legal entity in July 2022. Te Aka Whai Ora’s role is to provide a more consistent, national leadership of health service delivery with a Te Ao Māori perspective. New Zealanders receive healthcare through a mixture of private and publicly funded services. The public healthcare system is primarily funded through general taxation and is therefore only available to NZ residents.New Zealand’s districts range in population size from approximately 30,000 at the smallest to over 500,000 at the largest. There are currently over 150 hospitals listed as certified providers (private and public) in New Zealand. You can view certified provider maps on the Ministry of Health website . ‍ Te Whatu Ora regions and Public Academic Tertiary Institutions have a research office or similar. The research offices facilitate close working relationships between researchers, clinical staff, ethics committees, funding bodies and commercial sponsors.  These offices act as the central entry point for the approval of research and ensures that governing policies and procedure are adhered to. Contact details for certified clinical trial sites can be found on the Medsafe website.

All research involving Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand sites must receive approval from the relevant Research Review Committee before commencing. The relevant Te Whatu Ora site’s Research Office registers the project and organises the review process. ‍ The approval process will involve: • Research Office Application Form • Protocol • Ethics Application • Research Budget • Participant Information Sheets and Consent Forms • Contract or Clinical Trial Agreement • Indemnity and Compensation Agreement • Investigator Brochure • Funding Letter • Evidence of consultation with Māori • Locality Authorisation for Ethics • Scientific peer review • Ethics Approval Letter You can review an example approval process on the Te Whatu Ora – Te Toka Tumai Auckland (previously Auckland DHB) site.

As part of conducting research within Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, an applicant must demonstrate responsiveness to Māori. The Research Application has a section titled Responsiveness to Māori which must be completed for all projects. In most cases, the review is performed either by the Māori Advisor for Research or a similar entity. The Te Whatu Ora Research Office facilitates the review. On completion of the Māori research assessment, a letter of support will be sent to you showing that a process of formal research review has taken place.

NZ Glossary

Use the below to search through some NZ-specific clinical terms. The clinicaltrials.gov site provides a comprehensive glossary of common site terms.

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) provides comprehensive, no-fault personal injury cover for all New Zealand residents and visitors to New Zealand.

Online registry of clinical trials being undertaken in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

ANZCTR website

Any change to the terms of a study, including to the protocol or other supporting documentation, made after a Health and Disability Ethics Committee has approved the study.

A group of independent scientists who monitor the safety and scientific integrity of a clinical trial. The group can recommend to the study sponsor that the study be stopped if it is not effective, if it is causing harm to participants, or if it is not likely to serve its scientific purpose. Committee members are chosen based on the scientific skills and knowledge needed to monitor the particular study. Also referred to as a Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB).

The Gene Technology Advisory Committee provides regulatory review of genetically modified products.

The process by which a Health and Disability Ethics Committee (HDEC) checks, in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures, that a new application (or substantial amendment to a previously approved application) meets or exceeds established ethical standards.

The Health Research Council is the agency responsible for managing the Government’s investment in health research. The HRC’s committees provide advice on gene technology, accredit health and disability ethics committees and institutional ethics committees, monitor the safety of large clinical trials and review applications to use new medicines in trials.

The Health Research Council website

The Health Research Council Ethics Committee ensure that independent ethical assessment of any proposed research submitted for a Health Research Council (HRC) grant has been carried out either by the HRCEC itself, or an ethics committee approved by the HRCEC. The HRCEC approves ethics committees to carry out this function.

An organisation responsible for a hospital, health centre, surgery or other establishment or facility in New Zealand at or from which the procedures outlined in the protocol of a study are to be conducted.

‘Locality review’ is the process by which a locality assesses its suitability for the safe and effective conduct of an intervention study.

New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority

SCOTT is the Standing Committee on Therapeutic Trials; a standing committee of the Health Research Council (HRC) whose function is to make recommendations to Medsafe regarding the approval of clinical trials of new medicines under section 30 of the Medicines Act 1981.

An administrative check carried out by the  Health and Disability Ethics Committee (HDEC) secretariat to verify that an application or other item of business is complete and may be assigned for review through the full or expedited review pathway.

Case studies

To illustrate some clinical trial journeys with links to supporting material, we've put together two fictional case studies for example health innovations in collaboration with the New Zealand Association of Clinical Research (NZACRes), Te Tītoki Mataora and the National Institute of Health Innovation (NIHI).

Articles, commentary and blogs

Phase I Pharmaceutical: Psoriasis Treatment

Learn more about how a new treatment for psoriasis could navigate the Phase I clinical trial process, with links to further reading on the discussed topics.

Class II Medical Device: Diabetes Monitoring

Learn more about the clinical investigation process for a wearable diabetes monitoring device, with links to further reading on the discussed topics.

Connecting with the clinical trials sector in New Zealand

Search the HealthTech Activator (HTA) directory for listed clinical trials sites and supporting bodies.

Participate

Thank you for your interest in taking part in an NZCR clinical trial and joining our research community.

Home / Participants / Participate

Why Participate in a Clinical Trial?

Your participation in a medical trial will make a difference and help us research new medicines which will potentially change the lives of patients in NZ and around the world.

New Zealand Clinical Research is New Zealand’s largest and most experienced clinical research group. We are committed to ensuring our clinical study participants are fully informed and that their safety is continually monitored by our expert medical team.

• All our trials are approved by New Zealand regulatory authorities and are conducted in line with International Clinical Trial standards (GCP).
• Our clinical trials take place at state-of-the-art research units in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton, with experienced research staff to support you during your clinical research journey.
• We provide free Wi-Fi access to allow you to work or study remotely, recreational activities and space to relax.

How to Participate in a Clinical Trial

To take part in an NZCR clinical trial, we need you to register your details with us. This will ensure we are providing you with information on a trial that might suit you. All our trials have height, weight, BMI(body mass index) and other criteria which need to be met before we can include participants in the trial. Once you have registered on our database, we will review your profile and send you information on a suitable trial, why it is being conducted and when it is taking place.

Steps to taking part in a clinical trial

What our clinical research participants have to say

Hi, I'm Michael. I have done several trials l with NZCR . I love contributing to medical progress. I look forward to visits, the food is amazing and there’s a massive TV with Sky and Netflix. The nurses and doctors are lovely, the care they take to do everything safely and correctly is obvious. I have experienced zero side effects from trial drugs. The clinic stays are ideal for getting away from daily distractions to focus on the trial, reading, or Netflix and you get a thorough medical check.

It was amazing being part of a clinical study that will aid in actual treatment of autoimmune disorders. For me contributing was personal as I have a very dear friend who suffers from this condition. You are treated really well and the Doctors are very informative and honest and encourage you to ask questions at any time. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to give back to the medical field of research.

"Hi I’m Alex, I have done quite a few studies at NZCR. I have found the nurses and doctors to be professional and caring. The facilities themselves to be comfortable, the lounge area providing a nice place to relax. The food portions have been very large and delicious. It's a great way to support my studying without having to take out a student loan."

Get in touch today

New Zealand Clinical Research (NZCR) provides state of the art research facilities and the expertise to conduct complex early phase clinical research in healthy participant and patient populations.

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New Zealand Health Research News and Updates

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Therapeutic Products Bill

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Human Health Research Services Platform

Starting a research project? Looking for joined up data management? The Human Health Research Services Platform can provide end-to-end support for your human health research project, including clinical trials, observational studies and population health investigations.

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We support investigators at all levels of experience to achieve research success. The Human Health Research Services Platform (HHRS Platform), hosted by the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, is a comprehensive, end-to-end, data-driven platform created from experience.

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Case studies, read about some of the projects we’ve supported through the hhrs platform..

Helping mothers with postpartum anaemia

PhD student Esther Caljé worked with the HHRS Platform team to help interpret the data from two studies looking at ways of treating postpartum anaemia – a condition that affects approximately one-third of mothers in the weeks after birth in New Zealand.

Read Case Study

Testimonials

What our clients say, we’ve supported a wide range of projects. read what our clients have to say about working with us..

The team’s biostatistician was very approachable and great to work with. My observational study was looking at incidence, and how clinicians were treating postpartum anaemia at three large hospitals over six months. We analysed by region and ethnicity, so there were many variables and a lot of data. The biostatistical support made a huge difference to the quality of the project.

Working with the REDCap experts in the HHRS Platform team has given me a great deal of confidence in their approach and in the system. We have always had a quick response to our enquiries. The FIIX team gives it the thumbs up.

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It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit website. Here you will find information about the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study (the Dunedin Study for short) which has now been ongoing for half a century. At our last phase (age) 45 data collection, 94% of living Study members participated - an unmitigated success.

We tell you how the Study began , details of the assessments we have conducted and the publications that have been generated. We describe the sub-studies of the Dunedin Study: the Parenting Study , the Next Generation Study and the Family Health History Study . Whether you are a Study member, researcher, or a member of the public, I hope you will find this information interesting and useful.

The wider Dunedin community has been critical in helping build the Dunedin study. We thank all those who have contributed, in many different ways, over the past 50 years.

Finally, we extend a special thanks to the 1037 Study members, their families and friends who have willingly given so much, for so long, in the hope of helping others. On behalf of all the researchers involved, we salute you.

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Research study participation

By joining a research study you could help improve health outcomes of current and future generations and help researchers turn discoveries into real life applications. Explore our current research studies below.

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Liggins Institute studies

There are further opportunities to partake in reseach about pregnancy, babies and healthy adulthood at Liggins Institute.

Faculty of Science studies

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The National Institute for Health Innovation is looking for study participants to help improve population health.

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Discover the studies taking place at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and see if you could be a perfect participant.

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Scientists say they have identified a root cause of lupus — one that could pave the way for new treatments

A key mystery behind one of the most common autoimmune diseases may finally have an answer.

Researchers at Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital say they’ve discovered a root cause of lupus, a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. 

Scientists have long suspected that a person’s genetics or hormones may predispose them to lupus, and that the disease may be triggered by environmental factors like a previous viral infection or exposure to certain chemicals.

Now, a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature outlines a clear pathway for how the disease likely develops, pointing to abnormalities in the immune systems of people with lupus.

“What we found was this fundamental imbalance in the types of T cells that patients with lupus make,” said Dr. Deepak Rao, one of the study authors and a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. T-cells are white blood cells that play a key role in the body’s immune response. 

The study arrived at its findings by comparing blood samples from 19 people with lupus to blood samples from healthy individuals. The comparison showed that people with lupus have too much of a particular T cell associated with damage in healthy cells and too little of another T cell associated with repair.

At the heart of this imbalance is a protein called interferon, which helps defend the body against pathogens. Scientists have known for many years that people with lupus have excess amounts of type I interferon — but the new study links this issue to several negative effects.

First, too much type I interferon can block a protein called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which helps regulate the body’s response to bacteria or environmental pollutants. 

Blocking this receptor hinders the production of T cells that can help heal wounds on the barrier of the skin, lungs and gut. It also stimulates the production of T cells involved in creating autoantibodies, which attack healthy cells and are a hallmark of lupus.

Rao said the theory could explain the vast majority of lupus cases.  

“I think this is going to apply to essentially all patients with lupus,” he said.

But other experts questioned the idea that there’s a singular explanation for all instances of lupus.

“It’s very exciting research and very hopeful, but I think that it might be too early to say that it’s the root cause of the disease,” said Mara Lennard Richard, scientific program officer for the Lupus Research Alliance. The alliance is a private funder of lupus research and contributed grant funding to Rao’s study.

Because lupus symptoms are so varied and the contributing factors are manifold, “it’s been very hard to find one singular root cause for the disease,” Lennard Richard said. “Obviously, if this turns out to be the cause of lupus, that would be amazing and really fantastic for people living with lupus.”

Dr. Jill Buyon, director of the division of rheumatology and the Lupus Center at NYU Langone Health, said the theory would need to be tested in a larger sample of people.

“Until they study 100 patients prospectively, how are we going to know?” said Buyon, who was not involved in the study.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 200,000 people in the U.S. have lupus, though the Lupus Foundation of America puts the total much higher: roughly 1.5 million people . Around 90% of people with lupus are women.

Common symptoms include extreme fatigue, joint pain or skin rashes. In rare cases, the disease may lead to kidney or heart damage, or weaken the immune system so the body can’t fight off infections. These issues can be fatal or life-threatening.

Lupus has historically been difficult to treat. Many of the current options broadly suppress the immune system, including beneficial T cells that fight infection. And for some people with the disease, standard treatments aren’t effective. 

The new study hints at the possibility of better treatments in the future, which could take the forms of infusions or pills, said Dr. Jaehyuk Choi, one of the study authors and a dermatologist at Northwestern Medicine.

The study found that giving people with lupus anifrolumab, a drug that blocks interferon, prevented the T-cell imbalance that likely leads to the disease. 

“We followed patients who received this as part of their clinical care and showed that in patients who got the drug, this cell imbalance was fixed or was on the way to getting fixed,” Choi said.

In blood samples of people with lupus, the researchers also tested the effects of adding a small molecule that activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. They found that it limited the accumulation of disease-promoting T cells. 

The major challenge to developing a new treatment, according to Choi, is finding ways to administer it without activating aryl hydrocarbon receptors throughout the whole body, which may result in more side effects.

Even if such a treatment becomes available, Buyon said, it’s unlikely to work for everyone with lupus.

“We have come to the profound understanding that one drug will not do it all,” she said. 

Aria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.

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Children With Autism Carry Unique Gut Flora, Study Finds

The research, which builds on previous work, eventually may lead to a more objective diagnostic tool, scientists said.

By Teddy Rosenbluth

The process for diagnosing a child with autism heavily relies on a parent's description of their child’s behavior and a professional’s observations. It leaves plenty of room for human error.

Parents’ concerns may skew how they answer questionnaires. Providers may hold biases, leading them to underdiagnose certain groups . Children may show widely varying symptoms, depending on factors like culture and gender.

A study published Monday in Nature Microbiology bolsters a growing body of research that suggests an unlikely path to more objective autism diagnoses: the gut microbiome.

After analyzing more than 1,600 stool samples from children ages 1 to 13, researchers found several distinct biological “markers” in the samples of autistic children. Unique traces of gut bacteria, fungi, viruses and more could one day be the basis of a diagnostic tool, said Qi Su, a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a lead author of the study.

A tool based on biomarkers could help professionals diagnose autism sooner, giving children access to treatments that are more effective at a younger age, he said.

“Too much is left to questionnaires,” said Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiome researcher at the California Institute of Technology. “If we can get to something we can measure — whatever it is — that’s a huge improvement.”

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School-based healthcare a must for NZ

This article is republished from  The Conversation under a Creative Commons license and written by Auckland University of Technology's Sarah Williams.  Read the original article.

New Zealand’s school achievement is currently front and centre with the government’s plans to invest NZ$67 million into structured literacy . But what has been largely missing from the discussion on education is the impact health can have on learning and academic achievement.

In New Zealand and elsewhere, increasing numbers of children are entering schools with specific health needs . And school staff, trained primarily in education, are frequently being tasked with meeting these needs alongside the demands of their daily teaching roles.

Teachers have reported student health and wellbeing is an ongoing concern.

But they also said they are under-resourced, under-trained and stretched by the wide array of demands on them. These range from managing challenging student behaviours, to identifying and supporting students with physical and mental health needs.

Increasingly, teachers are having to navigate the challenges of neurodiversity and educational disparities (which are, ironically, sometimes the result of unmet health needs).

Resolving the tension between teachers as pure educators and teachers who support the health and wellbeing of children is going to require investment well beyond literacy – particularly if the government is serious about improving overall educational outcomes.

New Zealand’s teachers are not alone in feeling overwhelmed.

A recent study from the United States, for example, noted increasing calls for improved mental health literacy among school staff. These teachers reported being challenged by time constraints, communication barriers and insufficient professional development. They also expressed their need to be better prepared to recognise mental health issues and provide classroom support.

Likewise, an Irish study found initiatives aimed at promoting student health and wellbeing were hampered by teachers’ lack of appropriate education and work-related time constraints.

Health and wellbeing as a subject

New Zealand’s initial teacher education programmes limit considerations of health and wellbeing to the health and physical education learning area, where there may be opportunities for communicating messages about healthy eating, drug awareness and aspects of physical hygiene, for example.

A recent report on the readiness of teachers limited its references on “health” to the health and physical education curriculum.

And the standards for the teaching profession fail to mention student health, although the code does state teachers are to “establish and maintain professional relationships and behaviours focused on the learning and wellbeing of each learner”.

Teachers feel conflicted

Despite limited training in the area, teachers face increasing demands to address and support the health needs of students. This is largely due to an increased understanding of the correlation between health and education. It is clear supporting students health and wellbeing helps them to meet their academic goals.

And yet, in a recent New Zealand study , not all teacher participants agreed that promoting and supporting student health and wellbeing was part of their role.

Some believed concerns with students’ health and wellbeing detracted from their key teaching focus. These findings align with an Australian study which asked whether teachers were health workers .

Providing teachers with skills to better support their students’ health needs can be an effective way to improve policy outcomes .

Schools have already been used by successive governments to implement and support health and wellbeing goals. Under Labour, the sale of “ junk food ” in school tuck shops and canteens was sharply curtailed with the aim of improving the health of students. And more recently, the government banned cell phone use in schools , in part to reduce online bullying and mental health issues.

Health and education working together

Much more can be done without solely relying on teachers.

Collaboration between the health and education sectors can enhance student learning and health outcomes.

Globally, nurses have a long history of delivering health services in schools and are considered a valuable resource for teachers, students and their families.

Currently New Zealand’s school based health services ( SBHS ) provide clinical healthcare services to around 115,000 students in 300 secondary schools. But this is often in a limited capacity and is targeted to vulnerable communities. It is also only aimed at older students.

While there are some nurses working in primary schools across the country, this service has diminished over time, is fragmented and lacks national leadership and direction.

A greater investment in school health services can address barriers to student learning and bring together otherwise separate sectors. It is also an opportunity to review the role health professionals can play in assisting teachers to identify, understand, and support the health needs of students.

While investing $67 million to improve literacy in schools is an important and significant policy step, so is investing in developing a national school health service that serves early childhood through to secondary school.

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Study suggests reinfections from the virus that causes COVID-19 likely have similar severity as original infection

NIH-funded analysis of health record data shows severe reinfections often follow severe first infections.

Using health data from almost 213,000 Americans who experienced reinfections, researchers have found that severe infections from the virus that causes COVID-19 tend to foreshadow similar severity of infection the next time a person contracts the disease. Additionally, scientists discovered that long COVID was more likely to occur after a first infection compared to a reinfection. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery ( RECOVER ) Initiative, is published in Communications Medicine .

The analysis used data from electronic health records of 3.1 million Americans who are part of the National COVID Cohort Collaborative ( N3C ). Researchers focused on 212,984 people who reported a reinfection. Those individuals were originally infected between March 1, 2020-Dec. 31, 2022, and experienced a second infection by March 2023. Most participants (203,735) had COVID-19 twice, but a small number (478) had it three times or more. COVID-19 vaccines , though not available during the entire study period, correlated with a protective effect .

About 27% of those with severe cases, defined as receiving hospital care for a coronavirus infection, also received hospital care for a reinfection. Adults with severe cases were more likely to have underlying health conditions and be ages 60 or older. In contrast, about 87% of those who had mild COVID cases that did not require hospital care the first time also had mild cases of reinfections.

Reinfections were defined as having occurred at least two months after a first infection. They were found to occur most frequently when omicron variants were circulating in late 2021 and early 2022. Waning immunity and increased exposure to the coronavirus, including the highly-infectious variants, likely accounted for the uptick.

Scientists also discovered that regardless of the variant, long COVID cases were more likely to occur after a first infection compared to a reinfection. Long COVID was defined in the review as those experiencing long-term COVID-19 symptoms, such as feeling tired, coughing, or having problems sleeping, breathing, or thinking, after an acute coronavirus infection.

Researchers also found that lower levels of albumin , a protein made by the liver, may indicate a higher risk for reinfection. This finding could indicate lower albumin as a possible risk marker for reinfection. Scientists believe this deserves further attention, such as by considering trials to test if nutritional interventions may prevent reinfection or its severity.

The study is funded by NIH’s RECOVER Initiative. Additional support came from the N3C Data Enclave , which is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, also part of NIH.

David C. Goff, M.D., Ph.D. , a senior scientific program director for the RECOVER Observational Consortium Steering Committee and director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH, is available for interviews on this paper.

Hadley E, Yoo YJ, Patel S, et al. Insights from an N3C RECOVER EHR-based cohort study characterizing SARS-CoV-2 reinfections and Long COVID. Commun Med . 2024; doi: 10.1038/s43856-024-00539-2.

HHS Long COVID Coordination: This work is a part of the National Research Action Plan (PDF, 1.3 MB), a broader government-wide effort in response to the Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services to mount a full and effective response to long COVID. Led by Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, the Plan and its companion Services and Supports for Longer-term Impacts of COVID-19 report (PDF, 1.6 MB) lay the groundwork to advance progress in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and provision of services for individuals experiencing long COVID.

About RECOVER: The National Institutes of Health Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (NIH RECOVER) Initiative brings together clinicians, scientists, caregivers, patients, and community members to understand, diagnose, and treat long COVID. RECOVER has created one of the largest and most diverse groups of long COVID study participants in the world. In addition, RECOVER clinical trials are testing potential interventions across five symptom focus areas. For more information, please visit recoverCOVID.org .

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .

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Health research and innovation system leadership

[Ian Town to camera]

My name is Ian Town, the Chief Science Advisor here at Manatū Hauora now.

I'm working and exerting a leadership role in the Evidence, Research and Innovation Directorate, one of the new directorates that has come into being since July 2022.

We have this enormous opportunity to, for the first time, really embed health research and innovation right across our health system.

Here at the Ministry we are the overarching steward of the health system, providing that high level, light touch governance and stewardship, and our new Directorate is at the forefront of these conversations.

Now of course in this reform system, we're working with our partner agencies: Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand is where a lot of the action will occur in the future around health research, our clinicians working across the sector in Primary Care Community providers, and of course in secondary and tertiary care.

We'll be taking the lead on a lot of the delivery of health research activity within the overarching framework, which is encompassed in the New Zealand Health Research Strategy.

And very importantly as we think about our Treaty obligations, we'll be working directly with Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority to ensure co-governance in co-design and to make sure that all of our activities within health research are focused on those equity and treaty objectives.

Now, as part of the Evidence, Research and Innovation Directorate we're hiring right now. So please sign up to our careers page so you get early notice of vacancies that are going to occur within the Directorate over the next 12 months.

We need to build our team so that we can be effective at providing that system leadership in stewardship.

One of our first projects will be the idea of embedding clinical trials right across the motu in all parts of our health system together with the HRC.

We funded an exciting project which has come up with a really strong evidence base for how clinical trials actually improve healthcare in all parts of the system and improve health outcomes for New Zealanders.

Now also as part of that project they did some design work looking at what a national clinical trials network would look like. We're very excited about that.

We've discussed it with ministers and in the New Year, helped by some of our new hires, we're going to be looking at developing and operating model which we can launch as funds permit in the next year or two.

So, within the Directorate we're very excited about the future and what the next couple of years will bring as we really embed research into the sector more widely. This will be underpinned by a refresh of the New Zealand Health Research Strategy, so stay tuned. Do come back and visit this page from time to time to see what's happening and learn about some of our new initiatives.

And, also, there's a newsletter. So please sign up on this page and we'll be providing you with regular updates and newsletter items of interest.

Thank you very much.

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Early childhood health interventions have ‘big, multi-generation impacts,’ research finds

Reprinted from  Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

Tania Barham’s research suggests that it doesn’t take much to give impoverished people a better start to life

It was the late ‘90s, and  Tania Barham , future associate professor of  economics  at the University of Colorado Boulder, was in Yemen, working as an economist for the World Bank, which had teamed up with UNICEF to improve that country’s health, education and water.

Like the World Bank and UNICEF, Barham believed she was helping people, making a positive difference in their lives. But something was missing.

“I had a moment where I’m like, ‘There’s almost no evidence,’” Barham recalls. “There was little data to understand if a project was successful or not in terms of development.”

It was a life-changing realization, one that convinced Barham to go back to school, earn her PhD and research how to bring people out of poverty over the long term.

Unique data

Much of Barham’s work draws upon data from Bangladesh.

In the ‘70s, Barham explains, the Bangladeshi government rolled out the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Programme (MCH-FP) in the Matlab area, a rural pocket of land just east of the Meghna River.

The purpose of this program was twofold: to provide a basic health care package for impoverished families—including family planning, nutritional rehabilitation and vaccinations—and to do so in a way that allowed researchers to study the program’s effectiveness.

“They wanted to see if this thing worked,” says Barham.

One way the program designers did this was by setting up a control area and a treatment area, so that different health outcomes between the two could be traced back to the interventions. Another was by keeping detailed records of the specific individuals and families who received the treatments.

“They kept regular demographic surveillance data, and then they would do census of the study areas every so often,” says Barham.

This surveillance data shows a number of things: if someone migrated or married, if someone died, if over time there have been any changes in household structure. And it goes deep.

“We could link everybody back to their original household from before the project began,” says Barham.

Residents of Kashadaha village, Bangladesh, visit the Kashadaha Anando school Oct. 12, 2016. ( Photo: Dominic Chavez/World Bank )

So rich is this data that Barham and fellow researchers were able to conduct follow-up surveys of the treatment subjects starting in 2012, decades after MCH-FP began.

Barham wanted evidence, but this was more than she could have ever hoped for.

“This data doesn’t exist almost anywhere else.”

The effects

In a  paper  now under review, Barham and coauthors Brachel Champion, Gisella Kagy and Jena Hamadani explore the effects of MCH-FP on human capital.

Human capital, says Barham, refers to how equipped a person is to be successful in life. “It’s a person’s education. It’s their health. It’s their cognition. It’s their ability to solve problems. It can be social-emotional skills too.”

In other words, to improve a person’s human capital means to improve that person’s chances of escaping poverty or avoiding it in the first place.

Barham and her colleagues found that those in the Matlab area who received treatments showed increased height, a sign of improved health. They also found that kids in the treatment area exhibited improvements in cognition and, among the males, higher education and higher math scores. 

But the most important finding, says Barham, was that these effects spanned generations. The second generation benefitted as much as the first. The human-capital gains were ongoing.

In  another paper , this one published in December 2023, Barham and coauthors Randall Kuhn and Patrick S. Turner describe how MCH-FP affected migration.

Traditionally, many men in the Matlab region have migrated to Chittagong or Dhaka for work, or sometimes farther afield to countries like Qatar, where the higher-paying jobs are. But MCH-FP interrupted this narrative. 

Students participate in school activities at the Sahabatpur Daspara Ananda school in Sahabatpur village, Bangladesh, Oct.12, 2016. ( Photo: Dominic Chavez/World Bank )

“We thought we would find some traditional thing—you improve people’s education, and they go and get better jobs, and they still migrate to get them,” says Barham. “But that wasn’t the story we found at all. It was actually, I think, a more exciting story.”

Barham, Kuhn and Turner found that, instead of migrating, the Bangladeshi men were getting better jobs at home and therefore staying with their families.

“This is so important,” says Barham. “We see so much migration happening in the world right now, and here is an example which you almost never see of a program where people decided to stay.”

The big takeaway from both papers, says Barham, is that even a modest health package can have “big, multi-generation impacts.”

The big picture

Barham’s ultimate goal is to help those living in poverty, especially children.

“I care about people having the best start to life. Because if you don’t have a good start to life, it’s just that much harder to be successful later on.”

Now, propped up on decades of data and research, she hopes to spread the word and encourage investment in programs similar to MCH-FP.

“Good interventions help, and they accumulate,” she says. “We have to tell that story.”

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