COVID:    MBIE Employment New Zealand newsletter

• In case you or your colleagues at Public Health Association haven’t seen our newsletter yet, here is a link to read the latest Employment New Zealand newsletter, which also covers other topics including:

   

• Protecting your business and community: the COVID-19 vaccine
• Changes to pay during alert level changes
• Recent ruling of significance from the Alcohol Regulatory and Licencing Authority
• Looking after mental wellbeing during COVID-19.

If this is of interest, please subscribe to the Employment New Zealand newsletter.

Health Coalition Aotearoa have asked people to sign their open letter, PHA are a member and have signed this as an organisation but they’re keen to show as much support as possible for the plan and so are encouraging individuals to sign too. I’ve copied the letter below, to sign it go here to add your name https://www.healthcoalition.org.nz/smokefree2025/

To the New Zealand Government

The health sector is united behind the Associate Minister for Health's Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan.

By implementing this package of changes, you have the power to save the lives of up to 5000 New Zealanders each year from cancer, lung and heart disease and other deadly smoking-related illnesses. You can protect an entire generation from exploitation by the tobacco industry. You can improve health equity by reducing the significantly higher tobacco mortality rates of Māori, Pacific and low-income communities. Additionally, you can relieve the pressure on our already strained health system, freeing up precious resources. 

This Action Plan outlines a path for government and communities to work together and end the suffering caused by tobacco, our deadliest consumer product still for sale.

We ask you to advocate in Parliament for the whole Action Plan as outlined in April 2021, including:

 A comprehensive, multi-faceted approach.

• The focus on eliminating ethnic and socio-demographic inequities in smoking and health harms.
• The commitment to strengthening Māori governance of tobacco control.
• Bold and potentially game-changing measures, particularly proposals to remove nearly all nicotine from smoked tobacco products and greatly reduce the retail availability of tobacco.
• Create supportive environments to help people who smoke to quit, particularly those from priority groups.

The health evidence and submissions from health experts and the community support this Action Plan being implemented in full to protect New Zealanders and their families from the devastating harm of tobacco. You have a once in a lifetime opportunity to save them from this harm. Please do the right thing – you have our full support.

Annual General Meeting  2021

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTICE 

All members and stakeholders of the Public Health Association are formally invited to attend our Annual General Meeting, on Thursday 25^th November, 2021 from 12pm to 2pm, which will be a Virtual AGM.

The election period will be from November 1^st, 2021 to November 12^th, 2021.

As is our tradition, there will be Caucus meetings as well as our Policy Forum Workshop scheduled prior to the AGM at 6 pm on the 24th.

The Public Health Champion Awards will be presented after the formal AGM. 

If you are a member of the PHA: you are invited to send a remit to the AGM. The deadline for remits is Friday October 22^nd, 2021 at 5pm. The Executive Council has created a Remit subcommittee [Grant Berghan (CEO), Dr Leonie Walker, and Fran Kewene ] to review all remits before they are to be circulated to all members on the 11th November 2021. 

You are also invited to send nominations for the Public Health Champion Award, the Tū Rangatira Māori Public Health Champion Award, and the Pacifica Public Health Champion Award.

The closing date for all Award nominations is November 15^th, 2021. The Council has created an Awards subcommittee [Maxine Shortland (President), Grant Berghan (CEO), Hineira Hamiora (Council member), Dr Lifeng Zhou (Council Member), and Dr Jalal Mohammed (Council member)] to review all nominations before they are to be announced at our special awards ceremony following our AGM at 2.30pm.

Please contact nikita@pha.org.nz for a nomination form or download it here: