Potential lead poisoning which may result in screening of refugee children from parts of south Asia may also affect other immigrants from those areas as well, says a senior health official.

 The Medical Council expected District Health Board (DHB) bosses to regularly check its website to determine whether the doctors they employed held a practising certificate, the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal was told today.

Wellington, Sept 27 NZPA - Young Maori and Pacific Island women have the highest rates of up take of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

HPV viruses can lead to cervical cancer and genital warts.

Wellington, Sept 27 NZPA - A midwife has been censured and fined for professional misconduct for practising without a certificate.

Invercargill, September 27, NZPA - An Invercargill woman who was told by her urologist she had strained a muscle and should take panadol was diagnosed with kidney stones and a cancerous tumour on her left kidney just days later, a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal was told today.

New Zealand medical authorities will investigate the New Zealand use of a diabetes drug, Avandia, alleged to be implicated in 100,000 cases of heart failure.

Wellington, Sept 27 NZPA - Many New Zealanders may be blocking out the health benefits of sunshine and becoming vitamin D deficient, researchers say.

Wellington, Sept 26 NZPA - Parents have been given six strategies to help reduce the risk of alcohol-related harm in their children, in research being published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

The Flawed Guru

Violence from Oppressive Governments or Religious Groups

Wellington, Sept 25 NZPA - Health experts are alarmed by the "scary" number of overweight or obese preschoolers.