Michael G Baker
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 3575774 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Michael G Baker |
| NOMBRES | Michael G |
| APELLIDO | Baker |
| FIRMA | BAKER M G |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Otago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1865-1536 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 46 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 41 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 46 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2005 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Impact of housing improvements on childhood hospitalization rates in a large cohort of low-income families in New Zealand
The global burden of disease arising from exposure to inadequate housing is a significant public health concern. In New Zealand over 25,000 children are hospitalized annually with preventable housing-related conditions, with Māori and Pacific children particularly at risk. The Healthy Homes Initiative (HHI) is a community-led, government-funded, multicomponent intervention aimed at improving health outcomes for children at risk of housing-related…
Safeguarding Quality in Health and Medical Science Information Today
Practitioner perspectives on informing decisions in One Health sectors with predictive models
The continued emergence of challenges in human, animal, and environmental health (One Health sectors) requires public servants to make management and policy decisions about system-level ecological and sociological processes that are complex, poorly understood, and change over time. Relying on intuition, evidence, and experience for robust decision-making is challenging without a formal assimilation of these elements (a model), especially when the…
Impact of Covid-19 control strategies on health and GDP growth outcomes in 193 sovereign jurisdictions
The Covid-19 pandemic caused approximately 27.3 million excess deaths globally as of June 2024. Despite growing research on pandemic response factors, the effectiveness of different strategic approaches to Covid-19 control remains insufficiently investigated. We aimed to examine associations between Covid-19 pandemic control strategies (including stringent border restrictions) with age-standardized excess mortality and GDP per capita growth outco…
A proactive Covid-19 response associated with better health and economic outcomes for OECD High-Income Island Countries
This study provides additional evidence, for island nations, that an exclusion and elimination strategy can provide superior health/macroeconomic pandemic outcomes, compared with suppression/mitigation strategies
An evaluation of the Covid-19 self-service digital contact tracing system in New Zealand
BACKGROUND: Digital contact tracing (DCT) aims to improve time-to-isolation (timeliness) and find more potentially exposed individuals (sensitivity) to enhance the utility of contact tracing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the public uptake of a DCT self-service survey and its integration with the Bluetooth exposure notification system within the New Zealand Covid Tracer App (NZCTA). METHODS: We adopted a retrospective cohort study design …
Research opportunities for the primordial prevention of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease—streptococcal vaccine development
Streptococcus pyogenes, also known as group A streptococcus (StrepA), is a bacterium that causes a range of human diseases, including pharyngitis, impetigo, invasive infections, and post-infection immune sequelae such as rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. StrepA infections cause some of the highest burden of disease and death in mostly young populations in low-resource settings. Despite decades of effort, there is still no licensed Stre…
Research priorities for the primordial prevention of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease by modifying the social determinants of health
The social determinants of health (SDH), such as access to income, education, housing and healthcare, strongly shape the occurrence of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) at the household, community and national levels. The SDH are systemic factors that privilege some more than others and result in poverty and inequitable access to resources to support health and well-being. Primordial prevention is the modification of S…
Diagnosis of protozoa diarrhoea in Campylobacter patients increases markedly with molecular techniques
Cryptosporidium and Giardia are major causes of diarrhoea globally, and two of the most notified infectious diseases in New Zealand. Diagnosis requires laboratory confirmation carried out mostly via antigen or microscopy-based techniques. However, these methods are increasingly being superseded by molecular techniques. Here we investigate the level of protozoa detection by molecular methods in campylobacteriosis cases missed through antigen-based…
The lived experience of hotel isolation and quarantine at the Aotearoa New Zealand border for Covid-19
Dairy Cattle Density and Temporal Patterns of Human Campylobacteriosis and Cryptosporidiosis in New Zealand
Public health risks associated with the intensification of dairy farming are an emerging concern. Dairy cattle are a reservoir for a number of pathogens that can cause human illness. This study examined the spatial distribution of dairy cattle density and explored temporal patterns of human campylobacteriosis and cryptosporidiosis notifications in New Zealand from 1997 to 2015. Maps of dairy cattle density were produced, and temporal patterns of …
Policing disability
Amidst the increase in protest, activism and scholarship about police violence and repression in recent years, considerations of disability and ableism continue to be relegated to the margins. This article draws on interviews with leading disability justice advocates in Australia to shed light on the nature of police interactions with people with disability. Our analysis contributes to critical scholarship, advocacy and activism in four key ways.…
Preceding group A streptococcus skin and throat infections are individually associated with acute rheumatic fever
INTRODUCTION: Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is usually considered a consequence of group A streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis, with GAS skin infections not considered a major trigger. The aim was to quantify the risk of ARF following a GAS-positive skin or throat swab. METHODS: This retrospective analysis used pre-existing administrative data. Throat and skin swab data (1 866 981 swabs) from the Auckland region, New Zealand and antibiotic dispensing d…
We should not dismiss the possibility of eradicating Covid-19
box Elimination and eradication of disease are among the ultimate goals of public health1 (for definitions see box 1). Vaccination has globally eradicated smallpox, rinderpest (a cattle disease that caused famines2) and two of the three serotypes of poliovirus.3 Three other vaccine-preventable diseases are eradicable globally with current technology,4 with measles the leading contender and with MMR vaccination potentially eradicating mumps and ru…
Successful Elimination of Covid-19 Transmission in New Zealand
Elimination of Covid-19 Transmission in New Zealand In New Zealand, rapid, science-based risk assessment linked to early, decisive government action was critical to containing Covid-19. The country...
Well Homes Initiative
BACKGROUND: Six thousand children are hospitalized each year in New Zealand with housing sensitive conditions, and 86.2% of these children are rehospitalized during childhood. The Healthy Homes Initiative, set up by the Ministry of Health, and implemented in Wellington through Well Homes, carries out housing assessments and delivers a range of housing interventions. METHOD: Housing assessments were carried out by trained community workers. Philan…
Estimates of global seasonal influenza-associated respiratory mortality
Food safety labelling of chicken to prevent campylobacteriosis
Most consumers are unaware of the level of Campylobacter contamination on fresh chicken and there is a significant but unmet consumer demand for information on safe chicken preparation on labels. Labels on fresh chicken products are a potentially valuable but underused tool for campylobacteriosis prevention in New Zealand
Measuring the Effect of Housing Quality Interventions
In New Zealand, as in many other countries, housing in the private-rental sector is in worse condition than in the owner-occupier housing sector. New Zealand residential buildings have no inspection regime after original construction signoff. Laws and regulations mandating standards for existing residential housing are outdated and spread over a range of instruments. Policies to improve standards in existing housing have been notoriously difficul…
Cryptosporidiosis Risk in New Zealand Children Under 5 Years Old is Greatest in Areas with High Dairy Cattle Densities
Collaborating with a social housing provider supports a large cohort study of the health effects of housing conditions
This project has shown that an administrative housing database can be used to form a large cohort population and successfully link cohort members to their health records in a way that meets confidentiality and ethical requirements. This study also confirms that social housing tenants are a highly deprived population with relatively low incomes and high levels of exposure to household crowding and environmental tobacco smoke
Novel use of three administrative datasets to establish a cohort for environmental health research
The NHI was larger than the Census due to record duplication and entries for people residing overseas remaining on file under New Zealand addresses. NHI and QV matching was incomplete due to NHI address data being poor quality or not suitable for matching. To better approximate true hospitalisation rates, studies using the NHI as a cohort should exclude those aged over 90 years; or with ethnic group or Census area unit unknown. Cohort hospitalisa…
Eficacia de la detección sistemática de la gripe en las fronteras en los viajeros que llegan por vía aérea
Objetivos. Se midieron los síntomas y la prevalencia de la gripe (también llamada influenza), así como la eficacia del mecanismo de detección sistemática basado en los síntomas y la temperatura para diagnosticar la gripe en viajeros internacionales que llegaban por vía aérea. Métodos. El presente estudio transversal recopiló datos de viajeros que llegaron al aeropuerto internacional de Christchurch (Nueva Zelandia) en el invierno del 2008 mediant…
Effectiveness of Border Screening for Detecting Influenza in Arriving Airline Travelers
Objectives. We measured symptom and influenza prevalence, and the effectiveness of symptom and temperature screening for identifying influenza, in arriving international airline travelers. Methods. This cross-sectional study collected data from travelers to Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, in winter 2008, via a health questionnaire, temperature testing, and respiratory sampling. Results. Forms were returned by 15 976 (68%) travele…
Sero-Prevalence and Risk Factors for Leptospirosis in Abattoir Workers in New Zealand
Leptospirosis is an important occupational disease in New Zealand. The objectives of this study were to determine risk factors for sero-prevalence of leptospiral antibodies in abattoir workers. Sera were collected from 567 abattoir workers and tested by microscopic agglutination for Leptospira interrogans sv. Pomona and Leptospira borgpetersenii sv. Hardjobovis. Association between prevalence and risk factors were determined by species specific m…
Retrofitting houses with insulation to reduce health inequalities
Tuberculosis associated with household crowding in a developed country
BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important infectious disease in New Zealand (NZ) and globally, but risk factors for transmission are still poorly understood. This research aimed to identify whether household crowding contributes to TB transmission in NZ. METHODS: This ecological study used TB surveillance and census data to calculate TB incidence rates by census area unit (CAU). Census data were used to determine CAU characteristics incl…
Assessing housing quality and its impact on health, safety and sustainability
BACKGROUND: The adverse health and environmental effects of poor housing quality are well established. A central requirement for evidence-based policies and programmes to improve housing standards is a valid, reliable and practical way of measuring housing quality that is supported by policy agencies, the housing sector, researchers and the public. METHODS: This paper provides guidance on the development of housing quality-assessment tools that l…
Seasonal patterns of mortality in relation to social factors
BACKGROUND: New Zealand is a temperate country with substantial excess winter mortality. We investigated whether this excess winter mortality varies with social factors. METHODS: Records from New Zealand censuses in 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996 and 2001 were each anonymously and probabilistically linked to 3 years of subsequent mortality data creating five cohort studies of the New Zealand adult population (age 30-74 years at census) each with 3 years'…
Screening for Influenza Infection in International Airline Travelers
We sought the collaboration of an international airline and border control agencies to study the feasibility of entry screening to identify airline travelers at increased risk of influenza infection. Although extensive and lengthy negotiations were required, we successfully developed a multisector collaboration and demonstrated the logistical feasibility of our screening protocol. We also determined the staffing levels required for a larger study…
Beyond pirates and drugs
Although African leaders are coming together to discuss improving maritime security measures, the authors of this paper argue that they are giving too little attention to revolutionising the African maritime commercial sector. African states need to dramatically increase their gross domestic product in order to reduce poverty, improve the level of health and education, and build and sustain their security forces. But development approaches usuall…
Does housing policy influence health
We all believe that policies outside the traditional health sector have major impacts on health. But empirically demonstrating such social causation is another matter. Housing is one such example. There is a strong theoretical case for improved housing (eg, insulation, mould reduction) improving health (eg, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases).1 2 In some cases, one can conduct randomised trials. For example, we have previously reported that …
P2-489 Relatively high mortality for Maori and Pacific peoples in the 2009 influenza pandemic and comparisons with previous pandemics
Introduction There is evidence that indigenous peoples suffered disproportionately in the 2009 influenza pandemic, and we aimed to examine any such patterns for Māori and Pacific peoples in New Zealand (NZ). Methods We analysed data from a national Mortality Review Committee and conducted analyses for datasets covering the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemic periods. Results In the 2009 pandemic the Māori mortality rate (2/100 000) was higher than t…
Retrofitting houses with insulation to reduce health inequalities
Effect of insulating existing houses on health inequality
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether insulating existing houses increases indoor temperatures and improves occupants' health and wellbeing. DESIGN: Community based, cluster, single blinded randomised study. SETTING: Seven low income communities in New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: 1350 households containing 4407 participants. INTERVENTION: Installation of a standard retrofit insulation package. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Indoor temperature and relative humidity,…
Trends and determinants of excess winter mortality in New Zealand
EWM in NZ is substantial and at the upper end of the range observed internationally. Interventions to reduce EWM are important, but the surprising lack of variation in EWM by ethnicity, region and deprivation, provides little guidance for how such mortality can be reduced
Tuberculosis associated with household crowding in a developed country
BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important infectious disease in New Zealand (NZ) and globally, but risk factors for transmission are still poorly understood. This research aimed to identify whether household crowding contributes to TB transmission in NZ. METHODS: This ecological study used TB surveillance and census data to calculate TB incidence rates by census area unit (CAU). Census data were used to determine CAU characteristics incl…
Screening for Influenza Infection in International Airline Travelers
We sought the collaboration of an international airline and border control agencies to study the feasibility of entry screening to identify airline travelers at increased risk of influenza infection. Although extensive and lengthy negotiations were required, we successfully developed a multisector collaboration and demonstrated the logistical feasibility of our screening protocol. We also determined the staffing levels required for a larger study…
A surveillance sector review applied to infectious diseases at a country level
It was possible to create and populate a workable framework for describing all the infectious diseases surveillance systems and related activities in a single developed country and to identify potential surveillance sector gaps. This is the first stage in a review process that will lead to identification of priorities for surveillance sector development
Assessing housing quality and its impact on health, safety and sustainability
BACKGROUND: The adverse health and environmental effects of poor housing quality are well established. A central requirement for evidence-based policies and programmes to improve housing standards is a valid, reliable and practical way of measuring housing quality that is supported by policy agencies, the housing sector, researchers and the public. METHODS: This paper provides guidance on the development of housing quality-assessment tools that l…
Beyond pirates and drugs
Although African leaders are coming together to discuss improving maritime security measures, the authors of this paper argue that they are giving too little attention to revolutionising the African maritime commercial sector. African states need to dramatically increase their gross domestic product in order to reduce poverty, improve the level of health and education, and build and sustain their security forces. But development approaches usuall…
Does housing policy influence health
We all believe that policies outside the traditional health sector have major impacts on health. But empirically demonstrating such social causation is another matter. Housing is one such example. There is a strong theoretical case for improved housing (eg, insulation, mould reduction) improving health (eg, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases).1 2 In some cases, one can conduct randomised trials. For example, we have previously reported that …
P1-524 Comparative study of the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 in two island nations
Introduction Nations varied in their response to the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic; however, certain epidemiological characteristics of this pandemic were repeated in many locations. We aimed to compare the epidemiology and public health response to this pandemic in two island nations, on opposite sides of the globe: Iceland and New Zealand. Methods Historical accounts in both nations were reviewed, along with more recent analysis of the pandemics…
SP6-43 Ethnic gradient in mortality among the New Zealand military personnel in World War I
Introduction The ethnic distribution in mortality rates for New Zealand (NZ) military personnel in World War I has never been described. Methods Mortality data for military personnel in the NZ Expeditionary Forces (NZEF) were obtained from an electronic dataset (Roll-of-Honour) covering all deaths in these personnel during World War I and the immediate post-war period (1914–1923). All NZEF were allocated (using a classification system based on na…
P2-489 Relatively high mortality for Maori and Pacific peoples in the 2009 influenza pandemic and comparisons with previous pandemics
Introduction There is evidence that indigenous peoples suffered disproportionately in the 2009 influenza pandemic, and we aimed to examine any such patterns for Māori and Pacific peoples in New Zealand (NZ). Methods We analysed data from a national Mortality Review Committee and conducted analyses for datasets covering the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemic periods. Results In the 2009 pandemic the Māori mortality rate (2/100 000) was higher than t…
SP6-41 Descriptive epidemiology of mortality among the New Zealand expeditionary forces in World War I
Introduction The military personnel in the New Zealand (NZ) Expeditionary Forces (NZEF) during World War I experienced high mortality (18 000+ deaths). There is little research on these deaths so we aimed to provide a more detailed historical and epidemiological account of this mortality burden. Methods Various NZEF datasets and sources were used to examine mortality patterns and the robustness of the available data with historical accounts. Exte…
O6-4.5 Regulation works
Background The New Zealand epidemic of campylobacteriosis increased steadily from 1989 onwards, peaking in 2006 with a national rate of over 380 notified cases per 100 000 population. At the peak there were an estimated 120 000 cases a year in the community, and 800 hospitalisations. This rate was markedly higher than that reported by other developed countries. Interventions were introduced to lower contamination levels in fresh chicken meat, not…
P1-295 Screening for influenza at the border
Introduction The aim of border screening for influenza is to prevent or delay the entry of a new pandemic strain, but the evidence base for this strategy is limited. This study aimed to assess the test characteristics of a health questionnaire and temperature measurement for predicting influenza infection in arriving international travellers. Methods A questionnaire was distributed on board flights from Australia to Christchurch, New Zealand duri…
SP6-40 Death and hospitalisation have different seasonality
Introduction Seasonality of disease has been long recognised in epidemiology. More recently, researchers have established standard ways of measuring seasonality. In temperate countries there has been a particular interest in excess winter mortality (EWM), and, to a lesser degree, excess winter hospitalisations (EWH). Understanding the aetiology of seasonality is important for identifying interventions and potential future climate change effects. …
Community responses to communication campaigns for influenza A (H1N1)
The responses from all groups endorsed the need for community based risk management including information dissemination. Engaging with communities will be essential to facilitate preparedness and build community resilience to future pandemic events. This research provides an illustration of the complexities of how people understand and respond to health messages related to the H1N1 pandemic. The importance of the differences identified in the ana…
Seasonal patterns of mortality in relation to social factors
BACKGROUND: New Zealand is a temperate country with substantial excess winter mortality. We investigated whether this excess winter mortality varies with social factors. METHODS: Records from New Zealand censuses in 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996 and 2001 were each anonymously and probabilistically linked to 3 years of subsequent mortality data creating five cohort studies of the New Zealand adult population (age 30-74 years at census) each with 3 years'…
Warm homes for older people
The clinical trial registration is http://NCT01627418
Valuing social housing needs to take a broader view
Tenements were viewed as plague houses in nineteenth century industrial cities such as Glasgow, London, New York and Berlin. Replacing the tenements with social housing was seen as a key marker of social progress in the late 19th and 20th centuries. But as austerity budgets have spread across national and local governments in the 21st century, public expenditure on social housing, like other collective services, is not necessarily protected. Yet …
Sero-Prevalence and Risk Factors for Leptospirosis in Abattoir Workers in New Zealand
Leptospirosis is an important occupational disease in New Zealand. The objectives of this study were to determine risk factors for sero-prevalence of leptospiral antibodies in abattoir workers. Sera were collected from 567 abattoir workers and tested by microscopic agglutination for Leptospira interrogans sv. Pomona and Leptospira borgpetersenii sv. Hardjobovis. Association between prevalence and risk factors were determined by species specific m…
Improving rheumatic fever surveillance in New Zealand
The surveillance sector review approach can be added to the small set of tools currently available for developing and evaluating surveillance systems. This new approach is likely to prove useful as we confront the challenges of combating new emerging infectious diseases, responding to global environmental changes, and reducing health inequalities
Novel use of three administrative datasets to establish a cohort for environmental health research
The NHI was larger than the Census due to record duplication and entries for people residing overseas remaining on file under New Zealand addresses. NHI and QV matching was incomplete due to NHI address data being poor quality or not suitable for matching. To better approximate true hospitalisation rates, studies using the NHI as a cohort should exclude those aged over 90 years; or with ethnic group or Census area unit unknown. Cohort hospitalisa…
Eficacia de la detección sistemática de la gripe en las fronteras en los viajeros que llegan por vía aérea
Objetivos. Se midieron los síntomas y la prevalencia de la gripe (también llamada influenza), así como la eficacia del mecanismo de detección sistemática basado en los síntomas y la temperatura para diagnosticar la gripe en viajeros internacionales que llegaban por vía aérea. Métodos. El presente estudio transversal recopiló datos de viajeros que llegaron al aeropuerto internacional de Christchurch (Nueva Zelandia) en el invierno del 2008 mediant…
Effectiveness of Border Screening for Detecting Influenza in Arriving Airline Travelers
Objectives. We measured symptom and influenza prevalence, and the effectiveness of symptom and temperature screening for identifying influenza, in arriving international airline travelers. Methods. This cross-sectional study collected data from travelers to Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, in winter 2008, via a health questionnaire, temperature testing, and respiratory sampling. Results. Forms were returned by 15 976 (68%) travele…
Medicine (40 obras) · Environmental health (27 obras) · Public health (15 obras) · Disease (13 obras) · Demography (11 obras) · Population (11 obras) · Climate Change and Health Impacts (10 obras) · COVID-19 epidemiological studies (9 obras) · Geography (9 obras) · Influenza Virus Research Studies (9 obras)