Monday 2 May 2011

Auckland Haematologist Dr Paul Ockelford will be the new Chair of the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) from tomorrow.

PHARMAC is enabling New Zealanders with multiple myeloma (MM) to benefit from early use of a new treatment, bortezomib (Velcade) as well as providing wider access to thalidomide, another treatment used for MM.

HAGLEY HOSTEL FAREWELLED

Former staff and residents of Hagley Hostel gathered to say their farewells to the building earlier this week before demolition starts later next week. The building has been extensively damaged by the September and February earthquakes and is extremely unsafe.

Recent Ministry of Health figures reveal that it costs $1121 a day to treat a patient in hospital for asthma.

"This is just one of the many ways in which asthma costs Aotearoa dearly," says the Asthma Foundation's President, Professor Ian Town.

While it is the final day of the WHO initiative Vaccination Week in the Western Pacific, the importance of infants being immunised against vaccine-preventable diseases is a good insurance policy against ten diseases: measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio,

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) has confirmed two more cases of measles in Auckland.

Medical Officer of Health Cathy Pikholz says the new cases, both young infants, shows measles is once again present in the community.

People with epilepsy will have a new funded treatment from 1 May, when PHARMAC begins funding for lacosamide (Vimpat).

The Public Health Association (PHA) is calling on Minister of Health Tony Ryall to reinstate the reduction of avoidable hospital admissions as a health target, particularly for children.

Asthma Awareness Week started yesterday and the Asthma Foundation wants to tell New Zealanders what it's like for children when they are hospitalised by asthma, and what their parents go through.

Since 2005, the 29th of April has marked Day of Immunology in many countries across the globe. Established by the European Federation of Immunological Societies, its primary goal is to strengthen public awareness of the importance of the immune system to each person's health and wellbeing.