The Public Health Agency (PHA) is a directorate within the New Zealand Ministry of Health responsible for managing population and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

. It was established on 1 July 2022 as part of a large scale reform of public health services in New Zealand.

Leadership

The Public Health Agency is led by Dr. Andrew Old, who assumed the position of Deputy-Director General of the organisation on 18 July 2022.

History

In mid–April 2021,

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

Andrew Little announced that New Zealand's district health board system would be replaced with three new entities including the public health agency

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand (often shortened to Health NZ) is a public health agency established by the New Zealand Government to replace the country's 20 district health boards (DHBs) on 1 July 2022. Health NZ will work alongside the M ...

, the

Māori Health Authority Te Aka Whai Ora – the Māori Health Authority (MHA) is an independent New Zealand government statutory entity tasked with managing Māori people, Māori health policies, services, and outcomes. The Health Authority will work alongside the Minis ...

, and the Public Health Authority. The latter would be tasked with centralising the provision of public health services in New Zealand. In October 2021, the Sixth Labour Government introduced the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill to entrench the new health system into law. The bill passed its third reading on 7 February 2022. Besides establishing Health NZ and the Māori Health Authority, the legislation also established the Public Health Agency as a directorate of the Health Ministry. The Public Health Agency formally came into existence on 1 July 2022. It inherited the functions of the former Health Promotion Agency including public health and population health policy, strategy, regulatory, intelligence, surveillance, and monitoring. The new agency will also advise the Director-General of Health on theses issues. In addition, the PHA was tasked with developing a public health strategy to meet the needs of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and integrating ''

mātauranga Māori Mātauranga (literally ''Māori knowledge'') is a modern term for the traditional knowledge of the Māori people of New Zealand. Māori traditional knowledge is multi-disciplinary and holistic, and there is considerable overlap between concepts. ...

'' (indigenous Māori knowledge) and ''tofa loloto'' (

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

knowledge) into evidence-based health policy. On 19 July, the outgoing Director-General of Health

Ashley Bloomfield Sir Ashley Robin Bloomfield (born March 1966) is a New Zealand public health official. He served as the chief executive of the Ministry of Health (New Zealand), Ministry of Health and the country's Director-General of Health from 2018 to 2022. ...

announced that the PHA's Deputy Director-General Andrew Old would assume responsibility for fronting COVID-19 media briefings and press conferences following his departure later in the month.

Notes and references

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/public-health-agency 2022 establishments in New Zealand Health care in New Zealand Medical and health organisations based in New Zealand New Zealand public service departmental agencies