Research Projects

The current vaccination guidelines provide non-specific advice for needle length selection, and only 2% of COVID-19 vaccine doses in Aotearoa New Zealand (A/NZ) are actually administered with a needle longer than 25 mm.  

This project aims to establish a Māori-led audit and surveillance programme for drinking water systems on marae in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā; estimate the burden of AGI attributable to community drinking water supplies in Aotearoa that assesses differences by ethnicity and deprivation; assist Taumata Arowai to estimate the potential health and equity benefits of improvements to community drinking water infrastructure. 

This project aims to develop a research strategy for Toitū Te Ao with a kaupapa Māori framework for research involving Māori living with HIV.  The mahi also involves building a trusted network of community and research partners.  

Our early trials demonstrated that by delivering penicillin as an “implant” via SCIP, patients retain the desired penicillin concentrations for at least 3 months. This project will expand the trial into other regions of New Zealand. In addition, will utilise a previously developed rangatahi Māori and Pacific patient and whānau centered model of care to implement the delivery of SCIP. The model’s effectiveness and responsiveness to rangatahi Māori and Pacific patients, whānau and health care workers involved in the delivery of SCIP will be evaluated. 

We aim to find out if an oral medicine, with an excellent safety profile, prevents wheezy illness hospitalisations in preschool-aged children with recurrent wheeze. The medicine is called OM-85. This trial will determine the efficacy of OM-85 for preventing hospitalisations in preschool-aged children with recurrent wheeze. If we show that OM-85 prevents preschool wheeze hospitalisations, we will request PHARMAC funding so it can be prescribed to children to prevent wheezy illness hospital admissions.

New Zealand’s high-quality national-level data and recent disease outbreak experiences provide the ideal environment for creating and testing innovative epidemic modelling approaches. This project will increase the predictive power of epidemiological modelling and its ability to support pandemic preparedness and equitable public health decision making and policy advice.