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Source: Radio New Zealand

Travellers are warned to be on the alert for dengue fever, with cases on the rise in the Pacific.

The Cook Islands have been particularly affected, with more than 500 cases reported since the outbreak began in May last year.

Other countries reporting increased dengue activity include Samoa, Tuvalu, Nauru, Kiribati and American Samoa.

The government advises travellers to countries where mosquito-borne illnesses are able to spread to use insect repellent, wear protective clothing, and stay in lodgings where there are mosquito screens on windows and doors.

People who become unwell during or within three weeks of returning from their trip are advised to seek immediate medical advice.

More cases in New Zealand

Dr Matt Reid, Public Health Medicine Specialist for the National Public Health Service, said there had also been an increase in cases in New Zealand as a result of the outbreaks.

Eighty-six people in total have contracted the disease, with 75 of them associated with travel to the Cook Islands.

“These cases have been continuing to grow week on week,’ he said.

“People travelling to these areas where dengue is widespread should take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and follow local public health advice,” Reid said.

“People over 60-years-old and children aged 10 and under are also at greater risk of severe illness from dengue.”

New Zealand does not have mosquitoes able to transmit dengue, nor is there a vaccine available domestically.

Clinician says one in four people infected with dengue will get sick

Clinical Director of Etu Pasifika, Dr Maryann Heather, has recently treated a patient with dengue fever.

“The main thing is to have a high index of suspicion, especially since there are ongoing outbreaks in the islands,” she said.

Dr Heather said dengue could present as a vague viral illness, often accompanied by symptoms like headaches and pain behind the eyes, abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting, muscle and joint pain, skin rash, general lethargy, tiredness, and high fever.

“Symptoms can last up to two to seven days and can be mild or severe. One in four people infected with dengue will get sick.”

She said dengue was caused by mosquitoes, specifically those that bite during the day, which transmit the virus to others.

“While dengue can be confirmed through blood tests (dengue serology), it is mostly clinical and awareness of dengue fever outbreak in Pacific countries,” she said.

She said there was no specific treatment for dengue, but supportive care was important, including rehydration and taking paracetamol for fever, aches, and pains, along with taking time to recover.

“If you aren’t improving or concerned, you should seek medical attention, especially if you think you have dengue fever after returning from the islands.”

She said dengue was most common during the wet season in the islands, when there was a lot of rain.

“Prevention focuses on reducing mosquito exposure by eliminating stagnant water around the house, wearing light-coloured clothing, and using insect repellent.”

“It’s crucial to educate and warn people travelling back to the islands so they are aware that dengue fever is present, especially since it is seasonal.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that in 2025, in response to requests from four Pacific Island countries, New Zealand’s International Development Cooperation assisted in the response to dengue outbreaks and prevention and preparedness efforts for dengue. This included providing funding and deploying professionals.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/warning-to-travellers-as-dengue-fever-cases-rise-in-pacific-again/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Education Ministry has proposed shutting down a struggling boarding school for children with extreme behaviour problems due to fears for their safety and education.

This week it opened consultation on closing Westbridge Residential School, one of just three residential schools for students with disabilities.

Accompanying documents showed the Auckland school had been under close scrutiny for at least two years and had a roll of just six students in the middle of last year.

“Despite ongoing interventions and governance support, significant concerns remain regarding the ongoing health and safety of students and the quality of education that is provided at the school,” the consultation paper said.

The school’s future has been in doubt for several years due in part to low enrolments and to criticism of residential schools generally.

The Education Review Office (ERO) warned of a high number of physical assaults and property damage in a 2023 report and again in 2024, with a follow-up report in 2025 saying those problems had continued though at a reduced level due to the school having fewer students.

A briefing for Education Minister Erica Stanford said ERO recommended at the end of 2024 that enrolments stop until the school could confirm it met the needs of its students, prompting the acting Secretary for Education to personally take over responsibility for approving enrolments.

The ministry appointed a limited statutory manger to the school in March last year, escalating to a commissioner in June that year.

The briefing said Westbridge had previously enrolled children aged 8-12 years, but that changed to include 13-15-year-olds.

“These older students have more complex and challenging social, and/or learning needs (including drugs and alcohol use), and also require the school to provide access to NCEA pathways,” it said.

The report said students typically enrolled at the school for a few months and over the past five years its roll averaged 9-10 students.

The school had shared a board of trustees with another residential special school, Halswell in Christchurch, but the board found it difficult to manage two separate sites and last year asked to be split into two separate boards.

The briefing said previous Westbridge students had lodged historic abuse claims which the school’s commissioner was dealing with.

The briefing said ERO last year found improvements at the school following earlier criticism.

It said that included training for staff, ensuring students’ access to psychological and specialist services continued after they arrived at the school, and monitoring students’ social and behavioural goals.

But it also concluded that student health and safety remained a problem.

“Assaults and property damage continue. Some incidents, such as continued physical aggression towards teaching staff are not always documented or recorded by staff,” it said.

“Despite some improvements, the curriculum at Westbridge is not currently fit for purpose for secondary students.”

The briefing said the ministry was confident students currently at the school were not at the same level of risk as at the end of 2024.

It said incidents involving students would remain a challenge and it questioned whether Westbridge was providing effectively for students.

Consultation would close on 15 March and Westbridge could be shut down by July or August this year.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/proposed-closure-of-westbridge-residential-school-following-safety-performance-concerns/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The upcoming election for the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board is shaping up to be a crowded and closely watched contest.

Eight new candidates have joined 12 individuals that campaigned for a seat in last year’s void election, with one person declining to stand again after nominations closed on 28 January.

Voting opens on 9 March and closes at noon on 9 April, with ballot papers posted to all eligible voters.

The election follows a District Court ruling in December to void the 2025 Papatoetoe subdivision result after irregularities were found on some ballot papers, giving voters another chance to choose their local representatives.

In October, police confirmed they were making enquiries after receiving complaints about alleged electoral fraud in the area.

Police were unable to provide any update on the investigation last week.

However, the four winning candidates from last year’s ballot have filed a petition seeking a High Court judicial review of the District Court ruling.

A court hearing has been scheduled for 17 February.

Among those standing in the upcoming ballot is the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team, which swept all four seats in last year’s election.

Paramajeet Singh topped last year’s poll with 4338 votes, followed by Sandeep Saini on 4318, Kushma Nair on 4001 and Kunal Bhalla with 3832.

All four are contesting the new election.

“We are confident and encouraged,” Bhalla told RNZ.

“The level of community support we are seeing has been strong and very visible, with many local leaders, residents and small business owners stepping forward publicly,” he said.

Bhalla said the new election was significant because it gave Papatoetoe residents the opportunity to confirm their democratic choice.

“We believe voters deserve the opportunity to confirm their mandate freely and fairly, without confusion or distortion,” he said.

He said the new election was also about continuity, with the team keen to continue its work without disruption.

Bhalla said he had full confidence in the legal process and that the team was engaging respectfully with the judicial review.

“The judicial review is about ensuring clarity, fairness and due process,” he said.

“We categorically deny any wrongdoing and believe the issues raised will be properly tested and resolved through the courts.”

Bhalla said the team’s strong showing in last year’s ballot had been driven by grassroots engagement, inclusion and unity.

“We were visible, accessible and encouraged participation from across the community, particularly people who had not previously felt represented or engaged in local elections,” he said.

He said he was expecting a higher voter turnout this time.

“We are seeing strong conversations on the ground and increased awareness, which we believe will lead to a solid turnout,” he said.

Labour-affiliated candidates are also returning to the contest, led by former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board deputy chair Lehopoaome Vi Hausia, who lodged the District Court petition challenging the 2025 election results.

“It’s really encouraging to see a mix of returning candidates and new people stepping forward,” Vi Hausia said.

“Papatoetoe deserves the best, and a strong, fair contest of ideas helps ensure we have high-quality local board members representing our community.”

He said the Labour-aligned team included former local board member and ex-Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary, as well as Avinash Kaur Dhaliwal and Raj Pardeep Singh.

In last year’s election, Vi Hausia placed fifth with 2493 votes, followed by Choudhary with 2100 votes, Dhaliwal with 1864 votes and Raj Pardeep Singh received 1645.

Vi Hausia said the court’s findings of irregularities, including fraudulent voting, meant the previous result did not fully reflect the true outcome.

“This [new] election is important for Papatoetoe, and for local democracy in New Zealand,” he said.

“I know it’s frustrating for our community to be in this situation in the first place, but the cost of losing trust in our democratic system would be far worse.”

He said what mattered most was that Papatoetoe voters could make a free and fair choice about who represented them.

“What happened at the last election is an unfortunate chapter in our local history,” he said.

Independent group Independently Papatoetoe is also mounting a comeback, led by former local board member Albert Lim and returning candidate Peter Dons.

Dons shared a similar view to Vi Hausia.

“This new election is very important not only for Papatoetoe but for the whole country, and I don’t think due recognition has been given to what actually happened there,” Dons said.

The team included new candidates Chris Webb and Alison Weakley.

“We’re very confident because we are very well known in the community, and we have strong new candidates,” he said.

In the previous election, Lim received 1896 votes, while Dons secured 1483.

“I believe our votes will go up and the Action Team’s votes will drop dramatically,” Dons said.

Dons said his team was planning to run a strong campaign with a different outcome this time around.

“We’ve got a very interesting situation, and as far as our team is concerned, we’ll be watching everything very closely,” he said.

“We’ll be doing our very best to have a good and robust campaign, and we’ll see what happens.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/04/papatoetoe-candidates-highlight-magnitude-of-new-election/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A boy has suffered a minor injury after another student struck him with a pocketknife at school on Tuesday morning.

The incident happened at Ōtūmoetai Intermediate School, with its principal detailing the event in a social media post addressed to parents and caregivers.

Henk Popping said a pocketknife was pulled out by one of the boys during an altercation, and struck the other student’s forearm.

“This caused a minor injury and both boys’ caregivers have met with myself, school leaders and police constables who were notified as a follow-up.

“Both boys have been removed from the school for the remainder of the week which will be followed up with a re-integration process assisted by the Ministry of Education and our Police Community Constables.”

The school has also taken steps to support students and staff who have been affected by the incident, Popping said.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/boy-injures-another-student-in-knife-incident-at-tauranga-school/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Over $170,000 of desperately needed money has been raised for whanau in parts of the flood ravaged East Cape of the North Island.

But chair of Manaaki Matakāoa, Tina Ngata said residents were in for a “long slog” when the initial response died down and the community was left to ready themselves for the next bout of heavy weather.

Community ‘overwhelmed’ by response

Ngata said the Matakāoa community had been “overwhelmed” by the generous response to the devastating flooding and landslips.

She said – in the week following the storms – nearly $75,000 had been put towards the community’s immediate needs.

“Supporting people to get home, medical evacuations, people who are separated from their animals, families who are separated from each other, food drops, power resources, tank refills – people have had their water lines disrupted. There’s a lot of immediate investment needed,” Ngata said.

Ngata said nearly every one of the 350 households in the stretch from Pōtikirua through to Kiwinui Hill had been affected in some way by the storms.

She said the funding was important but – at the early stage of the recovery – the “people on the ground” putting in long hours cleaning, organising and volunteering their help were hugely appreciated by the community.

“There are so many people who are showing up voluntarily with shovels, with wheel barrows and those for us are absolute heroes. Even when the army has shown up – it’s given some of our people a great rest – but I’m still seeing a lot of our people working past one o’clock in the morning.

“We’re really thankful for all of New Zealand for every single donation – so that we can support these families – but also support the people who are supporting our families. We really want them to be recognised, the people on the ground.”

‘Blown away’ by community support

Further south in Tolaga Bay – a community that was no stranger to the impact of extreme weather – locals raised just over $56,000 in a single market day to put towards the Manaaki Matakāoa relief fund.

Tolaga Bay teacher Shanan Gray said donated goods and items were auctioned and raffled off while local artists and entertainers chipped in to help create an exciting and enjoyable day.

“When we got to the final figure we were blown away. It just shows how much love, commitment and dedication that our community has [for] the rest of the communities up and down the coast,” Gray said.

Defence Force personnel and helicopters assist

A spokesperson for the Defence Force said over 140 personnel had been deployed about the Hicks Bay and Te Araroa areas to help with the clean up under the direction of the local Emergency Operations Centre.

“Personnel in Te Araroa and Hicks Bay have been working on a range of tasks including clearing culverts, improving drainage, removing debris and silt from properties, and felling hazardous trees.

“Air transport has been provided by Royal New Zealand Air Force NH-90 helicopters transferring water, fuel, stores such as rubbish bags, chainsaws and health equipment, as well as transporting personnel into Hicks Bay and Te Araroa. Reconnaissance has also been conducted of roads to determine access.”

Difficult discussions ahead

But Tina Ngata said – once the army, Civil Defence teams, politicians and media had left – the community was in for a “long slog” as they navigated the complex problems exposed by the storms.

“We know that this is not going to be the last time. We have new slips in places that have traditionally never slipped so we need a lot of geo-tech expertise around where are the safe places to put homes and more long term infrastructural support – support around roading – and economic support for our whanau as well,” Ngata said.

Ngata said there were many “difficult discussions” ahead as climate change rearranged past assumptions about areas previously considered safe by generations of whanau.

“Funding or no funding we’re going to do what we need to do – as a community – but it’s going to be a long slog and it’s going to be very expensive. Because it’s not just about that first cash injection. The impacts and the problems are very complex,” Ngata said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/flood-hit-communities-overwhelmed-by-response/

Source: Radio New Zealand

With most schools back in action, student attendance rates are once again in the spotlight. One Auckland school is even buying its own van to help transport chronically absent students to and from school.

Provisional figures from the Ministry of Education show the number of students turning up to school regularly has improved. In term 4 of last year, 57.3 percent of students attended school more than 90 percent of the time. This was up from 56.4 percent in term 4 the previous year.

The government has set a goal to have that regular student attendance rate at 80 percent by the end of 2030. But a breakdown of the data show despite the upward overall trend, Māori and Pacific student attendance continued to lag significantly.

In term 4 of 2025, just 39.5 percent of Pasifika students and 43 percent of Māori students attended school regularly. The rates were 41 percent and 42.5 percent, respectively, for term 4 of the previous year.

Bert Iosia is the principal of Auckland’s Kelston Intermediate School. He has a school roll of about 420 students, most of whom are Pasifika and Māori.

For the past few years, the school’s regular attendance rate has sat around 52 percent.

While that “wasn’t great” Iosia told Checkpoint,, the school had managed to have “some success” with students who were “at the chronic end of being absent from school”.

More plans were in place to ramp up that work and engagement, he said, including the purchase of a van dedicated to transporting students identified as “serious concern” because they’d missed 15 days or more of school.

“Where we know the background story and we understand what’s on top of the whānau – it becomes challenging for them to get kids there – this van could be a little bit of a lifeline to pick the kids up and get them through.”

The school van was due to be up-and-running by the end of the month.

Iosia, who is also the president of the NZ Pasifika Principals’ Association, said it was difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of lower attendance rates among Pacific and Māori.

“There’s lots of issues that go on for our whānau that are almost difficult for non-Māori and Pasifika to sort of understand.

“Within our communities, there are just families that are just doing it hard.

“They may need some of the little ones to sort of help out with baby, new bubba – that’s sort of popped up as well.”

Anxiety for students also contributed to absenteeism, he said.

“Intermediate is quite an interesting space because it’s a two-year period. So transitioning into intermediate can be quite challenging for some of our anxious kids.”

Anxiety was also a problem for students leaving and moving onto high school, Iosia said.

“The movement to high school can be quite daunting. So especially come the end of the year … you can see some of that absence that sort of sits around our children of serious concern.”

Iosia said increasing attendance rates required ongoing engagement and connection with students and families.

He said the school year had started well. The school had also set an ambitious goal of getting 70 percent of students attending regularly – or more than 90 percent of the time – by the end of the year.

“My board, and my attendance team, and staff – we’re pretty committed to that.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/school-buys-van-to-transport-chronically-absent-students-to-curb-lagging-attendance/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Social media giant Meta says banning young people from its platforms won’t work, but supporters of a law change are crying foul, saying the owner of Facebook and Instagram is using the same tactics as big tobacco.

The National Party last year launched a members’ bill pushing for a youth ban. The law change is also supported by Labour.

The bill aimed to protect under-16-year-olds from harm on social media.

Meta vice president and global head of safety Antigone Davis was in Auckland on Tuesday, showcasing Instagram’s Teen Accounts.

They feature built-in restrictions on content, as well as time limit reminders and ways for parents to monitor who their teen is chatting with online.

Davis said banning platforms for under-16s wouldn’t solve the problem.

“It sounds really good, it feels like it’s going to solve the problem, but you can’t make a ban for the entire internet. So what you do is you make it for a set of apps, and what we’ve seen already in Australia is teens download other apps. They try to go around the system,” she said.

There was room to look at how to address the issue, Davis said.

“Even in New Zealand, I think there’s a little bit of a step back,” Davis said.

“‘Okay, this ban sounds interesting, it makes sense to us, let’s take a little bit of time to think about it,’ I think in that time is a real opportunity to think about what we’re trying to accomplish and how can we do it best.”

Meta said it had data showing the majority of parents they surveyed in New Zealand wanted to decide if their under-16-year-old had access to social media – not leave it up to the government.

That was in contrast to recent polls showing support for a ban.

The B416 campaign had been pushing for restrictions and its academic advisor, Dr Samantha Marsh of the University of Auckland, said Meta was using the same strategy as big tobacco.

“Trying to put the onus on the individual, the parent or the child, and with respect to social media, they frame it in a way that it sounds like it’s empowering,” she said.

She said an age restriction of 16 is an important first step.

“Alone, I wouldn’t expect a massive change in behaviour or anything like that, and it’s not going to be perfect initially, it’s going to need lots of tweaking, and Australia is well aware of that,” Marsh said.

“But they were quite clear that we can’t wait for this to be perfect before we implement it, and I think that’s really important, and that’s the approach that we should be taking in New Zealand.”

Marsh said there were many things that needed to go along with age restrictions.

“Just like big tobacco, these companies want to continue to not have the responsibility placed on themselves but place it on the individual, which allows them to go continue to make money, and profit off the harm that’s being caused to our children.”

Meta and other social media platforms have been on trial in the United States over claims their apps were designed to be harmful to young people.

Senior University of Auckland law lecturer Joshua Yuvaraj connected the case to what was known as dark patterns, designed to confuse or manipulate users. He said algorithms had a big part to play.

“It’s a question of does the social media company actively target, [and] are they aware of the particular vulnerabilities of the populations which make up their users?” Yuvaraj said.

Antigone Davis said Meta had launched tools to help users tailor their algorithm to what they want to see.

“One of the things that we’ve recently launched is something called Tune Your Algorithm,” she said.

“It’s for both teens and adults. What it does is it allows you as a user to say ‘I want to see more of this and I want to see less of this’.”

“We already have transparency tools in place so people can see exactly how their algorithm is working, but we want to give people a sense of being able to really control that experience.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said he would introduce the bill before this year’s election.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/nz-academic-says-meta-using-same-tactic-as-big-tobacco/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A moggy with a taste for mince is on the prowl in Kerikeri.

Keen hunter, Bella the cat burglar, has been bringing home a surprising midnight feast for her owners – sausage rolls in brown paper bags.

In a bizarre series of gift-giving that might sound unbelievable, Bella’s sausage roll deliveries have happened not once, not twice, but three times, prompting a post on Facebook in search of answers.

Bella’s owner Siran Young said they are “absolutely bizarred out of our brains”.

“We’re curious, we want to know where our cat is getting these sausage rolls from,” Young said.

She said over the last three weeks, they have gotten three deliveries of sausage rolls around midnight from Bella.

“I mostly sleep through them and my husband gets up to a wailing cat who presents us in our bedroom with a sausage roll in a bag,” Young said.

“The first one was half-eaten and the other two have been intact, and we have no idea where they’ve come from.”

Young said they live near a high school, kindergarten, supermarket and bakeries – any of which could be where Bella is nicking the rolls.

She said they are thinking of putting an Apple AirTag or a cat camera on Bella.

“She’s definitely a cat that dances to the beat of her own drum,” Young said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/feline-sausage-roll-thief-on-the-prowl-in-kerikeri/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A paediatric specialist is urging the country’s drug agency to fund weight loss medication for teenagers.

A Pharmac advisory panel has provisionally recommended funding Wegovy for chronic weight management in people with high BMI’s and associated conditions.

The semaglutide drug first became available here in July last year, and currently costs about $460 a month.

The advisory groups recommendation is subject to Special Authority criteria, which will limit who can prescribe it.

The recommendation has been announced after the advisory group met in December, with a full record of the meeting expected to be available by March.

But one specialist believes there are a number of teenagers who would benefit from the drug if it is funded.

Professor Wayne Cutfield, a professor of paediatric endocrinology at the Liggins Institute, told Checkpoint funding Wegovy for teenagers would help prevent serious health issues before they arose.

He said he frequently sees very obese teenagers coming into the clinic.

“These are teenagers who weigh between 120 and 150 kilograms, these are 14 to 16 year old teenagers.”

“Most of these teenagers who have severe obesity will gain between half a kilogram and a kilogram a month – month on month, year on year… you can see by the time they’re 45, they will have much more severe obesity.”

Cutfield said Pharmac choosing not to fund the drug for teenagers would be like “closing the gate after the horse had bolted.

“Do they want to try and stop them from having heart attacks, stop them from having strokes, stop them from developing rampant diabetes or liver disease leading to sclerosis?”

Real-world follow ups of patients who have taken Wegovy have shown that weight regain can happen quickly after stopping the drug.

“There is often a return back to the pre-treatment weight. And the reason is, Wegovy suppresses appetite.”

Cutfield said that lifestyle changes were incredibly important to sustain weight loss and prevent teens from being on the drug for a lifetime

“Unless patients taking Wegovy make lifestyle changes, in other words, learn to diet, learn to eat less, and be more active they are going to be on treatment potentially lifelong.”

Pharmac has not yet signalled whether teens will be eligible for the drug if it is funded, however Cutfield believes it is highly likely this will be the case.

“If you look at any form of obesity treatment at the moment, these very obese teenagers are not eligible for bariatric surgery, there’s kind of nothing for them. Unless they get included, they are simply going to wait and get larger and larger and start developing obesity-related complications.”

At the current cost of around $460 a month, Cutfield said there is very much so an “equity issue” surrounding access to Wegovy.

He said the cost benefit of funding the drug are “potentially enormous”.

“You’re preventing serious diseases for which there are huge costs in terms of treatment costs, hospitalisations, lost time off work, chronic ill health, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, severe liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, affecting your capacity to breathe at night.”

However, Cutfield said health practitioners should have a stronger focus on implementing lifestyle changes for patients alongside prescribing the drug.

“I think as medical practitioners, and those who take the drug, we’ve got to collectively work harder at getting patients eventually off the drug and not have them on this drug for life.”

Pharmac’s director device and assessment Dr David Hughes told Checkpoint that Pharmac recently released the provisional recommendation from its Obesity Treatments Advisory Group in regards to current funding applications for Semaglutide (Wegovy).

“Typically, unless there is a strong clinical rationale or evidence for doing so, the age of individuals is not one of the factors Pharmac considers when making funding decisions.”

He said the full record of the recommendations related to these applications is expected to be released in full in March 2026.

Previously, Pharmac had received two applications to fund Wegovy.

The first was in September, for people with an established cardiovascular disease (such as someone who has had a heart attack or stroke) and a BMI of 27 or higher. The second was in October, for chronic weight management in people with a BMI of 30 or higher, with at least one weight-related comorbidity.

New Zealand has the third-highest adult obesity rate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/paediatric-specialist-urges-pharmac-to-fund-weight-loss-medication-wegovy-for-teenagers/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – You might not have heard of the Nipah virus, but if you’re travelling to or from parts of Asia, you’ll want to be aware of it.

The deadly virus, which typically comes from contact with fruit bats, has an estimated fatality rate of 40 to 75 percent of those infected. It can cause symptoms including brain swelling and permanent neurological damage.

Health authorities are warning people to be cautious after new cases broke out in India.

The World Health Organisation was notified on 26 January of two cases of Nipah infection at a private hospital in West Bengal.

What is Nipah?

Nipah isn’t new, said New Zealand epidemiologist Michael Baker, but it is quite dangerous.

It’s what’s called a “zoonotic virus,” which can transmit from animals to humans – in this case, primarily fruit bats.

It was first identified in 1998 among pig farmers in Malaysia, WHO said on its information site about the virus. There have been outbreaks in Bangladesh almost every year since, the organisation says.

“This is a virus that has caused known human cases for almost 30 years and on average we’ve seen about 30 cases a year over that time,” Baker told Morning Report on Monday.

“There is reasons why there’s huge concern about this virus – not so much for its pandemic potential but just because it’s such a serious infection with a fatality rate of over 50 percent.”

Most people who get Nipah develop symptoms involving the brain, like headaches and confusion, or in the lungs, including coughing or difficulty breathing. It can also sometimes cause brain swelling or encephalitis.

Long-term neurological conditions have been reported in about 1 in 5 people who have a Nipah virus infection, WHO says.

How contagious is it?

Don’t worry – this isn’t likely to turn into Covid-26.

“It’s a difficult virus to catch and it doesn’t have efficient transmission from people to people,” Baker said. “It isn’t transmitted by respiratory routes so this is not like Covid-19 in terms of its pandemic potential.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade hasn’t raised travel alerts for India, Bangladesh or Malaysia on its SafeTravel website specifically over the Nipah virus, but there are other cautions in place.

Screening measures for Nipah are in place at airports in places including Bali, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Nepal, Reuters has reported.

WHO says that transmission of the virus to humans can occur “from direct contact with infected animals like bats, pigs or horses, and by consuming fruits or fruit products, such as raw date palm juice, contaminated by infected fruit bats”.

The two recent cases in India were human-to-human transmission, he said.

“They were health care workers and they appear to have been looking after a patient who was infected. There may be other cases in that hospital, we’re obviously waiting to get the full report.”

However, Baker noted there were over 200 people who dealt with the patients and none of them appeared to be infected.

WHO says it “assesses the risk posed by Nipah to be moderate at the sub-national level, and low at the national, the regional and global levels”.

How do you avoid it?

MFAT’s SafeTravel website includes Nipah in its list of infectious diseases, and warns that if you’re travelling to anywhere where outbreaks have occurred, you should:

• Wash your hands regularly with soap and water or hand sanitiser, especially before eating and after contact with animals, their products and their environments.
• Avoid contact with animals, especially bats, pigs, monkeys and stray animals.
• Avoid areas where bats roost and avoid touching anything that could be soiled by bats.
• Avoid eating raw or unprocessed animal products, such as unpasteurised milk.
• Avoid eating fruit or plant-based product that may have been contaminated by animal or their bodily fluids including fresh date palm sap. Clean and peel fruit yourself before eating it.
• Avoid contact with the blood or body fluids of someone with Nipah.
• Eat food that is fully cooked and fruits that can be washed and peeled.

Is a Nipah virus infection hard to treat?

Of the India cases, one person was put on mechanical ventilation and another had severe neurological illness, WHO has said.

There is no vaccine and no specific antibiotic treatment, Baker said.

“The care would be called what is supportive care but it still has this very high mortality risk at the moment.”

Reuters has reported that according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a group that tracks emerging disease threats and funds the development of medical tools to protect against them, as of December 750 cases of Nipah had been recorded in all, and 415 of the patients died.

Could it come to New Zealand?

It’s possible cases could come through overseas travel from India or other countries. The incubation period can run from four days to two weeks, Baker said.

Still, it would be difficult for Nipah to really spread here.

“(Even) if they arrived, say in New Zealand and they became ill, they would be cared for very carefully in the health care environment and there’d be a very low risk of transmission to other people.”

There are no fruit bats in New Zealand – just two species of small, insect-eating native bats. Australian bats have only rarely been spotted here.

“It can’t really become established in New Zealand – we don’t have the animal reservoirs, we don’t have the fruit bats, for instance.”

Fruit bats are considered the natural host of the Nipah virus, although it does not appear to cause disease in them, WHO has said.

“Bats seem to have an ecological niche where they’re great incubators of viruses and they live in big colonies, they share their viruses very widely,” Baker said.

Much of the scientific evidence, from the WHO Scientific Advisory Group and others, seems to be that Covid-19 also originated in bats, which tend to be a winged vector for diseases.

“This is why the risk of such emerging diseases is increasing because humans are encroaching more on the habitats of bats.”

Other animals such as pigs can get infected and then infect humans.

Baker said the Nipah outbreak showed the importance of WHO’s work, which has come under scrutiny lately with the US withdrawing from the group and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters questioning whether New Zealand should continue to fund it.

“This is really another reason why we need the World Health Organisation looking at the prevention of these zoonotic infections,” Baker said.

Should we do anything?

“There’s nothing extra New Zealand needs to do at the moment,” Baker said, but medical staff in general should be aware of any data coming in and awareness of travel histories of people coming from any region where Nipah is endemic.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/what-new-zealanders-should-know-about-the-deadly-nipah-virus-outbreak-in-india/