University of Otago Reports Findings in Managed Care (Promoting health in the digital environment: health policy experts’ responses to on-demand delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand): Managed Care

2023 AUG 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Christchurch, New Zealand, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Services offering on-demand delivery of unhealthy commodities, such as fast food, alcohol and smoking/vaping products have proliferated in recent years. It is well known that the built environment can be health promoting or harmful to health, but there has been less consideration of the digital environment.”

Financial supporters for this research include Lottery Health Research, University of Otago Research.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Otago, “Increased availability and accessibility of these commodities may be associated with increased consumption, with harmful public health implications. Policy regulating the supply of these commodities was developed before the introduction of on-demand services and has not kept pace with the digital environment. This paper reports on semi-structured interviews with health policy experts on the health harms of the uptake in on-demand delivery of food, alcohol and smoking/vaping products, along with their views on policies that might mitigate these harms. We interviewed 14 policy experts from central and local government agencies and ministries, health authorities, non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and university research positions in Aotearoa New Zealand using a purposive sampling strategy. Participants concerns over the health harms from on-demand services encompassed three broad themes-the expansion of access to and availability of unhealthy commodities, the inadequacy of existing restrictions and regulations in the digital environment and the expansion of personalized marketing and promotional platforms for unhealthy commodities. Health policy experts’ proposals to mitigate harms included: limiting access and availability, updating regulations and boosting enforcement and limiting promotion and marketing.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Collectively, these findings and proposals can inform future research and public health policy decisions to address harms posed by on-demand delivery of unhealthy commodities.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Promoting health in the digital environment: health policy experts’ responses to on-demand delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand. Health Promotion International, 2023;38(4). Health Promotion International can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press, Great Clarendon St, Oxford OX2 6DP, England. (Oxford University Press - http://www.oup.com/; Health Promotion International - heapro.oxfordjournals.org)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Susan Bidwell, Dept. of Population Health, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. Additional authors for this research include Christina McKerchar, Angela Curl, Tessa Pocock, Matt Cowie, Hannah Miles and Rose Crossin.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daad091. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Health Promotion International is: Oxford Univ Press, Great Clarendon St, Oxford OX2 6DP, England.

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