The Public Health Association conference has been told that ethnicity is a powerful predictor of a person's health, because of a racist "system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks (which is what we call "race").

The elderly risk malnutrition by not eating properly, a Hawke's Bay District Health Board study says.

The study showed 57 percent of over-65s in the region were not eating properly which could lead to a loss of independence or a hospital stay.

Wellington, Sept 22 NZPA - Breastfeeding rates are falling short of national targets, with Maori and Pacific rates well below those for the rest of the population, a review has found.

With school holidays and daylight savings beginning this weekend, the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) is reminding beach-going families to keep each other, their children, and their pets safe from toxic sea slugs on Auckland beaches.

Wellington, Sept 22 NZPA - Health groups are warning women not to forgo regular breast cancer screening in favour of thermography because it has not been proved effective in detecting cancer.

Wellington, Sept 22 NZPA - Maori and Pacific rates of rheumatic fever are now some of the highest in the world, a Public Health Association conference was told today.

The chances of New Zealand European children getting rheumatic fever are one in 10,000, but the Public Health Association conference was told today that in some Maori communities in the Bay of Plenty, the chances are as high as one in 39.

Te Hotu Manawa Maori (THMM) is using e-learning to up-skill Maori workers to become smoking cessation advisors, as part of their normal duties.

The programme - Nga Kete Hauora - is an ABC smoking cessation pilot that has been trialled in the Bay of Plenty and Te Taitokerau.

A recent review reveals our breastfeeding rates do not meet the national targets set by the Ministry of Health in 2000. The breastfeeding rates particularly for Maori and Pacific are well below the rates for non Maori and non Pacific mothers from six weeks to six months.

A recent review reveals our breastfeeding rates do not meet the national targets set by the Ministry of Health in 2000. The breastfeeding rates particularly for Maori and Pacific are well below the rates for non Maori and non Pacific mothers from six weeks to six months.