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The PHA - an informed, collaborative and strong advocate for public health.

Public Health Champion 2006  -  Philippa Howden-Chapman

Philippa Howden-Chapman’s interest in the link between the quality of a house and the health of its occupants could well have had its genesis as she was growing up. Living at the beach in Milford in Auckland she grew up in the same house in which her father had been raised – a testament to a sturdy, quality home!

She worked as a teacher and clinical psychologist before entering the field of public health at the University of Otago, Wellington in 1990.

"I was fascinated, but frustrated by my clinical psychology job and wanted to prevent the tragedies I saw. I had read widely about the politics of health and when Professor Laurence Malcolm offered me a job to help reorganise Wellington’s mental health services, I was keen. I was optimistic I could make a difference," she says.

Professor Howden-Chapman is now Acting Head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington teaching in the area of society, health and public policy.

She is also the Director of He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, established to reduce health inequalities by developing knowledge about the links between housing and health.

Professor Howden-Chapman and her colleagues have carried out several studies in partnership with local organisations to insulate houses, install sustainable heating and re-house families in less crowded, better-designed houses. She has also worked in close collaboration with government and international agencies to highlight the policy importance of better housing in improving the population’s health and wellbeing.

"Helping to make the link between housing and health and developing evidence to show that it can make a difference to families’ health is a very practical way of making an important difference to people’s lives. Being based in the University has helped me to leverage resources in a way that helps people on low incomes to hopefully lead more comfortable lives, while at the same time working to generate knowledge about key policy issues."

Philippa Howden-Chapman is well-known internationally for her work on equity in health, as indicated by her membership of the board of the International Society of Equity in Health and membership of the European Network on Interventions and Policies to reduce Socio-economic Inequalities in Health. She is the editor of "Social Inequalities of Health: New Zealand 1999" which highlighted the growing inequalities in the social and economic determinants of health in the 1990s and the importance of taking action to reverse this trend.

"Equity, as Amartya Sen says, is a fundamental to human development. The kind of society we in public health are building in Aotearoa New Zealand should not be one where you can make accurate guesses about health and life expectancy from people’s ethnicity and income."

Philippa has been Chair of the NZ Drug Foundation, a member of the Heart Foundation Scientific and Public Health Committee, on the board of the International Society of Equity in Health and a member of the European Network on Interventions and Policies to Reduce Socio-economic Inequalities in Health. She is currently a member of the Strategic Policy Advisory Group of the Ministry for Social Development and also director of the Centre for Sustainable Cities, which was set up in partnership with city councils to develop robust evidence for urban sustainability.

"The most important issue yet to be accomplished in public health is showing that the ideas and policies we suggest can make a difference to reducing inequalities in the access to some of the good things of life – warm housing, adequate income, opportunities for on-going education and interesting, secure jobs."

A woman who works so hard to improve the health of New Zealanders can’t have too many days "off". But when asked what makes up a blissful non-work day for her, Philippa Howden-Chapman replies: "Getting up late, reading the paper over coffee, going for a swim, having an afternoon rest and then having long discussions with friends and family!"