Two a penny

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LATEST

Health officials are setting up specialist swine flu centres as the number of cases soars.

Health Minister Tony Ryall confirmed yesterday that Capital and Coast District Health Board had set up one of New Zealand’s first swine flu assessment centres at Wellington Hospital. Other district health boards were likely to follow.”

The number of nationwide swine flu cases doubled over the weekend, from 35 on Friday to 71 yesterday.

“It diverts people away who may have flu symptoms from hospital and emergency departments and GP clinics.

Darren Hunt, the Health Ministry’s deputy director of public health, said the weekend’s rise signalled a new phase of the pandemic and the number of cases was expected to rise steeply. Meanwhile, the UK has reported its first death from swine flu.

The ministry has moved its response to phase six, one of the highest health alert levels, opening the door for radical measures including the declaration of a national state of emergency. During the Mexican outbreak, big football matches were played in empty stadiums. Restrictions could be placed on public gatherings, including sports events. However, anyone with flu symptoms should stay away.

There were no plans to cancel Saturday’s second rugby test between the All Blacks and France, Dr Hunt said.”

Wellington City Council will outline plans today to deal with the growing number of cases. “It’s a prime opportunity for coughing and sneezing over a lot of people. Mayor Kerry Prendergast said options included closing buildings where large crowds gathered, such as libraries and swimming pools. Mayor Kerry Prendergast said options included closing buildings where large crowds gathered, such as libraries and swimming pools.”

Challenges included keeping essential services such as water supply and sewerage systems going if large numbers of people are off sick or stuck at home.

“Senior council managers have been working out how we will cope if Wellington is greatly affected by swine flu.

“If swine flu takes hold as is expected, that means a whole lot more people have flu, which means a whole lot more people might be turning up at emergency departments and GP clinics.

Mr Ryall said that, although New Zealand’s swine flu cases had been mild and most people recovered at home, there was still potential for it to swamp hospitals and clinics.”

Swine flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Every day that we can delay it is another day that we might not grind the health system to a halt.

Seventy-four countries have reported 29,669 cases and 145 deaths. Some people also have diarrhoea and vomiting.

WEEKEND DEVELOPMENTS:

Swine flu cases doubled over the weekend, from 35 on Friday, to 71 yesterday. Up to 30 per cent of the population might eventually contract swine flu, Dr Hunt said.

In Wellington, 12 new cases were reported, including a recruit at the Police College in Porirua.

In Wellington, 12 new cases were reported, including a recruit at the Police College in Porirua. Other recruits were being treated with Tamiflu and isolated.

The Health Ministry moved its response to phase six, opening the door for radical measures such as declaring a national state of emergency.

Tamiflu given to 50 pupils at Burnside High School, Christchurch, after a 13-year-old confirmed with swine flu.

Year 12s at Auckland’s Westlake Girls’ High School told to stay home after a fellow pupil is diagnosed.

Australia has 1458 cases, with more than 1100 in Victoria.

Health officials are also stressing the need for people who suspect they have flu to seek medical advice over the phone. Call Healthline 0800 611 116.

OFFICIALS HANDLING OUTBREAK WELL – PM

Prime Minister John Key today praised the actions of health officials in dealing with swine flu and emphasised the importance of people staying home if they have symptoms.

Mr Key said this morning the health ministry had done a “tremendous job” coping with swine flu so far, though it may have to change tack slightly because of the community spread. .

The messages the department were putting out were the right ones to help contain the spread, he said.

“We don’t have immunity and at one level it’s reasonably easy to spread,” he said.

“. . .If you’re not feeling well stay home, cover your mouth if you cough or sneeze, wash your hands regularly.”

– Next Health story: –
Fears over spread of flu at church

– National Homepage -

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LATEST

Health officials are setting up specialist swine flu centres as the number of cases soars.

Health Minister Tony Ryall confirmed yesterday that Capital and Coast District Health Board had set up one of New Zealand’s first swine flu assessment centres at Wellington Hospital. Other district health boards were likely to follow.”

The number of nationwide swine flu cases doubled over the weekend, from 35 on Friday to 71 yesterday.

“It diverts people away who may have flu symptoms from hospital and emergency departments and GP clinics.

Darren Hunt, the Health Ministry’s deputy director of public health, said the weekend’s rise signalled a new phase of the pandemic and the number of cases was expected to rise steeply. Meanwhile, the UK has reported its first death from swine flu.

The ministry has moved its response to phase six, one of the highest health alert levels, opening the door for radical measures including the declaration of a national state of emergency. During the Mexican outbreak, big football matches were played in empty stadiums. Restrictions could be placed on public gatherings, including sports events. However, anyone with flu symptoms should stay away.

There were no plans to cancel Saturday’s second rugby test between the All Blacks and France, Dr Hunt said.”

Wellington City Council will outline plans today to deal with the growing number of cases. “It’s a prime opportunity for coughing and sneezing over a lot of people. Mayor Kerry Prendergast said options included closing buildings where large crowds gathered, such as libraries and swimming pools. Mayor Kerry Prendergast said options included closing buildings where large crowds gathered, such as libraries and swimming pools.”

Challenges included keeping essential services such as water supply and sewerage systems going if large numbers of people are off sick or stuck at home.

“Senior council managers have been working out how we will cope if Wellington is greatly affected by swine flu.

“If swine flu takes hold as is expected, that means a whole lot more people have flu, which means a whole lot more people might be turning up at emergency departments and GP clinics.

Mr Ryall said that, although New Zealand’s swine flu cases had been mild and most people recovered at home, there was still potential for it to swamp hospitals and clinics.”

Swine flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Every day that we can delay it is another day that we might not grind the health system to a halt.

Seventy-four countries have reported 29,669 cases and 145 deaths. Some people also have diarrhoea and vomiting.

WEEKEND DEVELOPMENTS:

Swine flu cases doubled over the weekend, from 35 on Friday, to 71 yesterday. Up to 30 per cent of the population might eventually contract swine flu, Dr Hunt said.

In Wellington, 12 new cases were reported, including a recruit at the Police College in Porirua.

In Wellington, 12 new cases were reported, including a recruit at the Police College in Porirua. Other recruits were being treated with Tamiflu and isolated.

The Health Ministry moved its response to phase six, opening the door for radical measures such as declaring a national state of emergency.

Tamiflu given to 50 pupils at Burnside High School, Christchurch, after a 13-year-old confirmed with swine flu.

Year 12s at Auckland’s Westlake Girls’ High School told to stay home after a fellow pupil is diagnosed.

Australia has 1458 cases, with more than 1100 in Victoria.

Health officials are also stressing the need for people who suspect they have flu to seek medical advice over the phone. Call Healthline 0800 611 116.

OFFICIALS HANDLING OUTBREAK WELL – PM

Prime Minister John Key today praised the actions of health officials in dealing with swine flu and emphasised the importance of people staying home if they have symptoms.

Mr Key said this morning the health ministry had done a “tremendous job” coping with swine flu so far, though it may have to change tack slightly because of the community spread. .

The messages the department were putting out were the right ones to help contain the spread, he said.

“We don’t have immunity and at one level it’s reasonably easy to spread,” he said.

“. . .If you’re not feeling well stay home, cover your mouth if you cough or sneeze, wash your hands regularly.”

– Next Health story: –
Fears over spread of flu at church

– National Homepage -

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Banks in New Zealand could come under pressure to match a deal done across the Tasman offering homeowners who lose their jobs up to 12 months’ mortgage relief.

Prime Minister John Key said yesterday he would seek further information on the scheme, as the Government exerts more pressure on banks over its taxpayer-backed government guarantees. . But it sounded interesting and he would look into it.
Mr Key said he was yet to see the details of the scheme. So .
“What I would say is the New Zealand Government has offered the same level of support to the Australian banks as the Australian Government has provided.. the New Zealand branches, or New Zealand subsidiaries, might take into consideration what is required..
The banks would also be prepared to consider interest-only repayment options, including car loans, where appropriate, Mr Rudd said.”
Under an agreement with Australia’s four big banks, borrowers would be supported through times of temporary hardship by banks postponing mortgage repayments for up to 12 months, at the banks’ discretion.
The Australian deal comes as the New Zealand Government ramps up its rhetoric over banks.
But the sting in the tail was that accrued interest would be rolled back into the loan to be repaid once borrowers were back on their feet. Finance Minister Bill English warned last week that they could not expect to continue making big profits while taxpayers took on their business risk. Finance Minister Bill English warned last week that they could not expect to continue making big profits while taxpayers took on their business risk.
Mr Key said that, although there had been a moderate rise in mortgagee sales, they had come off “an extremely low base”. January figures showed there were 150 forced sales throughout the country, a fivefold increase from January 2007.”
But he said there had been discussions with banks about how they would handle homeowners who lost their jobs.
“In absolute numbers, it’s still a small number of homes relative to the stock of housing.
Mr Key said he had an assurance from banks that mortgagee sales were the last resort. There are expected to be 50,000 more jobless people within 18 months.
“Generally speaking, it’s their preference that some small payments continue to be made not so much because of the monetary value of them, but to continue the process of making payments. Many banks were already offering mortgage holidays and other monetary relief.”

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The Government has moved to close a legal loophole with a law to monitor child-sex offenders electronically for up to 10 years after they leave prison.

MPs took the rare step last night of allowing legislation to be introduced and made law in one sitting after Justice Minister Simon Power said the legal loophole posed an “unacceptable risk” to children.
Mr Power said law changes in 2007 had inadvertently threatened the ability of authorities to impose conditions on paroled sex offenders, such as where they could live, without their consent.
“That’s just unacceptable and obviously nonsensical if we were to have legislation that would keep our children safe. That would have led to a bizarre situation in which freed child-sex offenders would have had to agree to rules being put in place. It appeared they could be imposed only for the first 12 months.”
The 2007 changes had also created uncertainty around the length of time electronically monitored curfews could be imposed on child-sex offenders once they left prison.
Mr Power said the effect of yesterday’s changes was to restore what was believed to be the status quo before the 2007 changes. .
Under the changes, electronically monitored curfews could be slapped on former prisoners for up to 10 years..
“It literally is a public safety issue that had to be acted on with a considerable degree of urgency . I’m not going to muck around when it comes to the safety of children..”
But the Green Party is accusing the Government of ambushing it with a bill that it had been assured contained only “technical” changes.”
But the Green Party is accusing the Government of ambushing it with a bill that it had been assured contained only “technical” changes.
The attorney-general said the changes effectively gave the parole board the power to impose electronically monitored home detention for anything less than 24 hours a day for up to 10 years, based on an assessment of the risk of future offending.
Green MP Keith Locke said yesterday the Greens were not shown a damning report by Attorney-General Chris Finlayson ahead of time, which raised serious concerns about the law changes.”
Mr Finlayson’s report also questioned the bill’s “double jeopardy” nature. “The proposal in effect allows for long-term detention without charge or trial.

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“The state should not detain citizens solely on the basis of preventing future offending, nor should it punish offenders twice for the same offence,” it said

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There has been a sharp rise in the number of New Zealanders with no religious affiliation, new research shows.

In a study of 1000 people by Massey University, 40 percent said they had no religious affiliation compared to 29 percent 17 years ago.Fifty-three percent said they believed in God (although half of those said they had doubts), 20 percent believed in some form of higher power and about third said they didn’t believe or didn’t know.Just over a third of New Zealanders described themselves as religious.Professor Philip Gendall, who led the Department of Communication, Journalism and Marketing research team, said the view that New Zealand was a very secular country was supported by the relatively low levels of active involvement in religion. . –

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.”The survey shows that God is not dead, but religion may be dying,” he said

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LATEST

Police want to hear from a woman whom a 13-year-old girl begged for help shortly before she was raped in Auckland at the weekend.

Despite receiving a number of calls from the public, police have still not heard from the woman.

Detective Sergeant Andy King said she was a prime witness and police were very keen to talk to her. We received quite a number of calls from the public as a result of the publicity last night and this morning.

“We’re working through a number of enquiries.

“We have a lot of information which we have to sift through to work out what is priority and what is not,” Mr King said.

“There’s plenty to follow up on, plus our normal enquiries as well.

He added that police were with the victim this morning. It’s a very distressing time for them,” Mr King said.

“She’s with her family, and hopefully she’s had a reasonable night.

The man had verbally harassed her while he followed her from a group of shops in suburban Point Chevalier to a BP service station on Great North Road about 10am, Mr King said.

A man yesterday raped the girl at Oakley Creek Reserve in Waterview after following her for about a kilometre.

The man made a purchase at the service station where police obtained CCTV footage of him.

Police said the girl approached a woman filling her car at the station and begged for help, but the woman told her to keep away from the man and drove off.

Mr King said he bought a few “bits and pieces”, but did not want to elaborate.

Mr King said he bought a few “bits and pieces”, but did not want to elaborate.

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The girl was eventually let go and went home to tell her mother.

“He ended up grabbing her by the arm and dragging her into some nearby bush area and raping her,” Mr King said.

“This is a real blitz attack, for want of a better word, on a very vulnerable young girl.

Mr King said the man posed a huge risk to the community and could strike again.

Mr King said the attack was unusual.”

Police warned women and children not to walk alone in the area until the offender was caught.”

The girl described the man as Polynesian or Maori, aged between 20 and 30 years-old, with a bushy pony tail and facial hair.

“Stranger attacks on women are unusual but for it to happen in broad daylight like this and to a young girl makes it incredibly scary.

Police want anyone with information about the attack to contact them.

He was wearing khaki coloured shorts, white shoes and socks, a dark cap, sunglasses and a `Puma’ t-shirt and had a white stretchy athletic bandage on his left elbow. .

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Kiwis hooked on unhealthy food

By ESTHER HARWARD – Sunday, 22 February 2009

Sunday Star-Times
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: The New Zealand supermarket top ten: Coca-Cola 1.5l, Wattie’s spaghetti 420g, Coca-Cola 2.25l, QB Nature’s Fresh white toast 700g, Wattie’s baked beans 420g, Dole bobby bananas (850g), Tip Top super soft white toast 700g, Sprite lemonade 1.5l

Despite years of warnings about the perils of a poor diet, Kiwi shoppers are piling supermarket baskets high with soft drink, white bread and other unhealthy foods laden with sugar, salt and fat.5l, QB Molenberg original toast 700g, Coke Zero 1.5-litre bottle of Coke.
And our favourite product of all is a 1.
Confidential data leaked to the Sunday Star-Times reveals the top 10 food and drink items sold in supermarkets nationwide in the year to January include four soft drinks (Sprite, Coke Zero and two different-sized bottles of Coca-Cola) and two brands of white bread. (The figures exclude alcohol, tobacco and non-packaged fruit and vegetables.
The full list of the 40 top-sellers tells a similar story, as buyers choose soft drinks, snack foods and confectionery. "The things the companies say are occasional foods are becoming everyday foods, and are replacing traditional core foods.)
Public health nutritionist Bronwen King said the data shows the Kiwi diet has become too refined." Greens food spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said the figures show the Advertising Code of Practice, which demands responsible marketing of food in the media, should be extended to apply inside shops.
We're having a diet that's full of kilojoules, but deficient in the essential nutrients that keep us well and prevent disease.
Kedgley said the packaging and placement of foods could exert a powerful influence on shoppers buying decisions.
Kedgley said the packaging and placement of foods could exert a powerful influence on shoppers buying decisions. Core foods such as wholegrain cereals, legumes, milk, fruit and vegetables don't have the marketing budgets of refined products such as Coca-Cola, so can't compete.
King said sophisticated marketing techniques fuel human beings' innate addiction to fatty, sugary and salty foods. It's a product that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for marketing.
"If you or I were to make a brown sugary water we wouldn't have any traction. Fizzy drinks appear nine times, and white bread four times."
The top 40 foods and drinks compiled by market research company Nielsen from national supermarket data over the 12 months to January ranks Coca-Cola in first, third, 10th and 28th place.
New Zealanders have the sixth-highest rates of obesity in the developed world.
The few nutritionally valuable items include baked beans (ranked fifth), packaged bananas (sixth), Molenberg bread (ninth), Weetbix (23 and 24), milk (29 and 39th), wheatmeal bread (36) and Vogels bread (37). Two-thirds of Pacific Island New Zealanders are obese. One in four adults are obese, and one in 12 children are obese….
1. Coca-Cola 1.5l2. Wattie's spaghetti 420g3. Coca-Cola 2.25l 4. QB Nature's Fresh white toast 700g5. Wattie's baked beans 420g6. Dole bobby bananas (850g)7. Tip Top super soft white toast 700g8. Sprite lemonade 1.5l 9. QB Molenberg original toast 700g10. Coke Zero 1.5l
…And what they'll do to you Nutritionist Jacquie Dale analyses the top five supermarket sellers
1. Coca-Cola (1.5l bottles): One litre of Coke contains over 1800 empty kilojoules you would have to walk fast for more than two hours to work off. A litre of Coke contains 106g of sugar more than 26 teaspoons. I call Coke naked carbs lots of empty calories with no nutrients. Drinking a lot of Coke is a sure way to develop problems such as type 2 diabetes.
2. Wattie's spaghetti 420g: This food is low in fat but high in sodium. A better meal would be to make spaghetti from scratch and add plenty of vegetables and canned tomatoes.
3. Coke again (2.25l): Cheaper than milk how sad. I don't classify Coke as a food it offers no worthy nutrients.
4. QB Nature's Fresh White Toast: Oh no! Naked carbs again. Not so bad if you're going to pack two slices with lots of salad and some lean protein but if this is going to be a toast, jam or Nutella feast then white bread is not a healthy option. Wholegrain loaves are more expensive, but are filling and much more nutritious, so you use less. Hopefully all this white bread isn't going under the spaghetti, because the tomato sauce doesn't count as a vege serve in my book.
5. . This is a low fat product and high in fibre, but does it require 1890mg of salt and 29g of sugar to make it taste good? Choose the reduced salt version.

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Poor ‘terrorised by gangs’

Friday, 13 February 2009

GANG HOT SPOT: Pomare’s Farmer Cres is well known as a Mongrel Mob enclave, with at least nine families linked to the gang living there.

Aflawed Housing New Zealand policy has allowed gangs to take over too many of the country's streets, Police Minister Judith Collins says.
Pomare's Farmer Cres is well known as a Mongrel Mob enclave, with at least nine families linked to the gang living there.
The criticism comes after a woman and her two young children were allegedly threatened and forced from their Lower Hutt home by neighbouring Mongrel Mob members.
More than 50 police swooped on seven properties and arrested 10 gang members and associates early on Tuesday morning. Police told The that their officers avoided the area. The Government would act to disperse the groups. ..
"In a select committee I was on, Housing New Zealand actually confessed that they took gang affiliations into consideration when they housed them . That's not acceptable.. Poor New Zealanders who can't choose where they live . High and middle-income earners never have to deal with it…"
Housing NZ regional manager Pia Searancke said officials tried not to house rival gang members close to each other, or to place too many people from one gang in the same area. are the most terrorised by these gangs.
The Pomare accused who face a variety of charges, including burglary, intimidation and cannabis possession could be evicted from their homes for breaching tenancy rules if they had committed crimes in the homes or intimidated neighbours, she said. But the corporation did not always know if people were gang members.
The woman who was threatened would not comment to The yesterday. A tough approach to tenancy breaches and "zero tolerance" to anti-social behaviour would be implemented. Some gang members wanted better lives for their children.
Lower Hutt Mayor David Ogden said threatening women and children was "deplorable", but it was too easy simply to condemn gangs.
"Socially it's not a good thing to have all the state houses crammed together in huge areas," he said.
"Socially it's not a good thing to have all the state houses crammed together in huge areas," he said. "Quite often there are no doctors, shops or markets where they can get cheap food."
Housing NZ is in the early stages of a 10-year plan to revitalise Lower Hutt's state housing.

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Monster shark returns to Taranaki waters

– Tuesday, 10 February 2009

It's back – a six metre great white shark dubbed the Taranaki Terror has once again returned to prowl the region's coastline.
A rash of reports have been received from boaties and yachties in recent days of sightings of the beast.
Department of Conservation programme manager Bryan Williams confirmed he's been told of the arrival of the shark, and he says it'll be the one dubbed the Taranaki Terror.
It's been spotted everywhere along the coast from the Sugar Loaf Islands to Wai-iti Beach. Since then, it has a been a regular summer visitor.
The shark first hit the headlines in 2004 when it lunged at a small runabout off Waitara, leaving teethmarks in its hull. Great whites are real creatures of habit, and she comes here every summer to feed on the seals.
"We prefer to call her Mrs White, because a couple of summers ago we identified her as a female.
"I was heading out of Port Taranaki to go fishing, when it passed under me," he said."
New Plymouth kayaker Stephen Casey didn't care whether the big shark was female or male when he encountered it late last week he just wanted to get out of the water.
"I turned round and headed straight back to the breakwater.
"I couldn't get a real idea of its length all I know was this huge dark shape swam under my kayak when I was about halfway between the main breakwater and Moturoa Island."
Members of the New Plymouth Yacht Club reckon they might have seen it too. I figured that I needed to be close to land.
Organising committee member Denny Holdt said the shark was spotted at the bottom mark of the course laid out for competitors.
Competitors in the recent national laser championships got the jitters when a very big fin was spotted on the edge of their course off the port.
"The shark was exactly where the competitors were jibing to come around.
"It was at least as big as my boat, and it had a big fin sticking out of the water," said Mr Holdt, who was in a patrol boat."
Club commodore Mark Hatch said another big fin was seen just off the port entrance on Saturday.
"So we hung around there just in case someone ended up in the water and we didn't tell anybody about the shark until after the racing.
And now that the Taranaki Terror is back in town, everyone seems united in a single plea leave it alone.
"We're not sure if it was the actual shark, but we've certainly seen some big fins," he said.
This means it is illegal to target them within 200 nautical miles of New Zealand's shores or to fish for them in New Zealand-flagged boats on the high seas.
Mr Williams said great white sharks have been fully protected since 2007.

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NZ ‘not too flash’ in immunisation report

– Monday, 26 January 2009

Kiwi babies are among the least vaccinated in the developed world, a new international report reveals. . It equalled the others.
Of the six immunisations for one-year-old babies, New Zealand was well below the developed world average for four of them. In the developed world, 98 per cent had received it by that age and in the least developed countries, 76 per cent had received it.
In the worst example, only 79 per cent of one-year-olds had received immunisation against measles. We're 33 out of 35 developed countries," Immunisation Advisory Centre research director Helen Petousis-Harris said.
"We're pretty low."
An Auckland University study showed poverty was a major factor where immunisation rates were low.
"And certainly, compared with a lot of the developing countries which have mass campaigns, we don't come up too flash.
The country's Third World rates of immunisation against measles were "too low to prevent ongoing epidemics", the Ministry of Health said.
Misinformation about immunisation was "alive and well in New Zealand" and also played a part in the low rates, Petousis-Harris said.
The chief adviser on child and youth health for the Ministry of Health, Dr Pat Tuohy, said the Unicef figures were "substantially correct". It has pinned some of the blame on more families with two working parents not having the time to immunise their babies.
Publicity suggesting, incorrectly, that the measles vaccination caused autism had hit the rates of immunisation.
"The current coverage rate for measles is too low to prevent ongoing epidemics," Tuohy said.
"For example, in the situation where both parents are working, they can find it difficult to get their children immunised because their only free time to do so is after-hours or on Saturday mornings.
"We are aware that some barriers remain even though immunisation is free," Tuohy said.
However, Petousis-Harris said the Government was still a long way off its aim of having 95 per cent of babies fully immunised by age two."
Since the Government made improving immunisation coverage one of 10 health targets in July 2007, there had been a "dramatic" 9 per cent increase in immunisation rates, Tuohy said. We've got a lot of things that we need to be working on to do better," she said.
"We just haven't got there."
Whooping cough (pertussis), a disease particularly severe on small babies, was on the rise as a result of the poor rates of immunisation.
"Immunisations generally don't go to people, people have to go to the immunisations.
The Unicef report showed New Zealand lagging the developed world (98 per cent) by 7 percentage points for rates of immunisation against pertussis.
The Unicef report showed New Zealand lagging the developed world (98 per cent) by 7 percentage points for rates of immunisation against pertussis.
The improvement in New Zealand's under-five child mortality rates from 21 per cent in 1970 to 11 per cent in 1990 to 6 per cent in 2007 fell almost perfectly in line with the developed world.
A child mortality rate of 6 per cent put the country on a par with Britain, Australia and Canada but behind Israel, the Netherlands, France and Germany.
The mortality rate for under-one-year-olds had also fallen from 9 per cent in 1990 to 5 per cent in 2007.