A strong voice for healthy policy and environments

A STRONG VOICE

FOR HEALTHY POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTS

Pegasus Health is a strong advocate for public policy and environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice. Pegasus supports a ‘Health in All Policies’ approach - an approach that integrates health considerations into policymaking to improve health, whether it be at a local or national policy level.

Population Health Programme Specialist, Katie Brown says Pegasus holds position statements on a variety of health topics, including: Equity of Health Care for Māori, Equally Well (addressing physical health inequity for people experiencing serious mental illness and addiction), Tobacco Control, Healthy Weight, Alcohol and Drinking Water Fluoridation.

“Our positions align with those taken by the Canterbury District Health Board (DHB), Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, and other local and national health organisations,” says Katie.

Positions are reviewed annually by our two advisory boards and endorsed by the Pegasus Health Charitable Limited Board. New positions are developed and adopted to respond to changes in priorities. This year, Pegasus has taken a strong stand on tobacco control both regionally and nationally. Our work in this area includes: •

Member (Chair) of Smokefree Canterbury

Partner of Te Hā – Waitaha Stop Smoking Canterbury service

Member of the National Tobacco Supply Reduction

Steering Group

Lead and contributing submitter on two significant pieces of tobacco control legislation: • Smoke-free Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act Smoke-free Environments Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carry Children Amendment Act. Pegasus also made submissions on the Regulations for the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme and the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. In late June, Pegasus became a member of the national Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA). HCA’s vision is ‘for greater health and equity for all New Zealanders through reduced consumption of harmful products (tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods and beverages) and improved determinants of health’ – a vision aligned with many of Pegasus’ positions on health and wellbeing. Katie says being a member of HCA will increase Pegasus’ influence through joint advocacy opportunities, support our advocacy activity at regional and national levels, and demonstrate our commitment to working collaboratively.

“We are developing a Pegasus position on Equity to underpin and strengthen our commitment to equity through all our advocacy efforts. Pegasus will also be developing and adopting positions on Family Harm and Gender Affirming Care,” says Katie.

With strong support from our Population Health Advisory Board, Pegasus will continue to advocate for the fluoridation of water, and our belief that the authority to fluoridate the drinking water supply belongs centrally (at national level), rather than regionally with individual DHBs.

The timeframes for the impact of the ‘Health and All Policies’ work can be long, but when policy is changed, the effort is truly worth it. For example, Pegasus’ tobacco control advocacy, alongside Smokefree Canterbury partners and the Cancer Society, has contributed to new vaping regulation that supports people choosing to ‘vape to quit’, while at the same time protects young people from exposure to the marketing and availability of vape products.