The Health Ministry has awarded $1.5 million as grant to a Massey University Health Project.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Ministry supported the Centre in its funding application.
Led by Associate Professor Dr Barry Borman of the Massey Centre for Public Health Research, the Project will investigate the links between the environment and diseases. It will also project and monitor the effect of environmental factors including air and water quality, transport, energy consumption, housing and chemical exposures, on the health of New Zealanders.
Dr Borman said that the Project would also investigate other issues such as the health effect of dairy run-off into rivers and the long-term effects of the aftermath of natural disasters such as earthquakes.
The Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences at Massey University will support the research initiative.
Environmental impact
“A lot of the issues come back to the question of the interaction between humans and animals and how these impact on the wider environment. The establishment of a hazardous surveillance system tracking statistical data showing how many New Zealanders have been exposed to dangerous goods and chemicals is also part of the research project,” Dr Borman said.
He said that the trial of the innovative reporting tool would allow the data on patient exposure to hazardous substances, to be collected from general practices throughout New Zealand, analysed, and distributed by Centre staff.
The collection process will be in partnership with Best Practice Advocacy Centre (BPAC) Inc.
Dr Borman said that the innovation would lead to better prevention of disease and injury in the workplace and greater collaboration between university staff and health authorities.
“The availability of the reporting tool has huge implications in terms of knowing who typically is exposed to hazardous substances, where it happens and also what organisations can do to mitigate the compliance costs of such incidents. The new system will replace the current ‘piecemeal approach” and enable data about a patient exposed to a hazardous substance to be processed and analysed, regardless of whether they had to be hospitalised,” he said.
Scientific enterprise
According to him, public health surveillance must be treated as a scientific enterprise, applying rigorous methods to address critical public health concerns.
“Surveillance is essentially the provision of information for public health action,” Dr Borman said.
Trials for the new system will start at two centres later this year.
Dr Borman said that Government funding had cemented the Centre’s growing reputation as the hub of environmental health in New Zealand.
“It includes conducting a number of epidemiological studies, teaching annual postgraduate courses and short courses on environmental health and providing a technical consultancy and analysis service to a number of agencies,” Dr Borman said.
The Centre is currently collaborating on numerous environmental research projects with the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
