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Abstract Background Physical activity is essential for optimal physical and psychological health but substantial declines in children's activity levels have occurred in New Zealand and internationally. Children's independent mobility (i.e., outdoor play and traveling to destinations unsupervised), an integral component of physical activity in childhood, has also declined radically in recent decades. Safety-conscious parenting practices, car reliance and auto-centric urban design have converged to produce children living increasingly sedentary lives. This research investigates how urban neighborhood environments can support or enable or restrict children's independent mobility, thereby influencing physical activity accumulation and participation in daily life. Methods/Design The study is located in six Auckland, New Zealand neighborhoods, diverse in terms of urban design attributes, particularly residential density. Participants comprise 160 children aged 9-11 years and their parents/caregivers. Objective measures (global positioning systems, accelerometers, geographical information systems, observational audits) assessed children's independent mobility and physical activity, neighborhood infrastructure, and streetscape attributes. Parent and child neighborhood perceptions and experiences were assessed using qualitative research methods. Discussion This study is one of the first internationally to examine the association of specific urban design attributes with child independent mobility. Using robust, appropriate, and best practice objective measures, this study provides robust epidemiological information regarding the relationships between the built environment and health outcomes for this population.

Drug use imposes a range of health and social costs on New Zealand society. Measures of the availability of drugs are important for understanding levels of drug use and changes in drug use over time. Policy makers can directly affect levels of drug availability through a range of policy tools, including age restrictions, vendor regulation, varying levels of enforcement, and changing the legal classification of drug types. This paper presents population-level data on the current availability, and recent change in availability, of the 11 most commonly used drug types in New Zealand. Alcohol, tobacco and BZP/TFMPP party pills (i.e. the legally available drugs) were found to be by far the easiest drug types to obtain. Cannabis was the most easily available illegal drug, although it was much less available than the legal drugs. Cannabis was assessed by last-year users to be relatively more difficult to obtain in 2006 compared to 1998, 2001 and 2003. Amphetamine was also assessed to be relatively more difficult to obtain in 2006 compared to 2001. The decline in the availability of amphetamine occurred during a period after 2001 of sustained focus by drug enforcement agencies on disrupting clandestine methamphetamine manufacture and supply. A fall in the availability of nitrous oxide in 2006 followed a tightening of the rules concerning its sale by the Ministry of Health. Our findings suggest that policy makers can negatively affect the availability of a drug and, in turn, its level of use, with effective policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To track recent trends in the population prevalence, availability, price, and harm of amphetamine in New Zealand., Design: National household drug surveys were conducted in 1998, 2001, and 2003 using the same Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) methodology. General population random digit dial samples of 15-45 year olds were compared between the three survey waves (n=5475 in 1998; n=5504 in 2001; n=3042 in 2003)., Findings: The proportion of the sample who had ever used amphetamine increased in 2001 compared to 1998 (11.0% versus 7.6%, p<0.0001) and then decreased in 2003 compared to 2001 (9.0% versus 11.0%, p=0.0066). The last year use of amphetamine increased in 2001 compared to 1998 (5.0% versus 2.9%, p<0.0001) and then did not significantly change in 2003 compared to 2001 (4.0% versus 5.0%, p=0.0466). The proportion of last year amphetamine users who said that the availability of amphetamine had become 'harder' compared to 12 months ago was higher in 2003 compared to 2001 (24.5% versus 12.4%, p=0.0284). Approximately 3 out of 10 amphetamine users reported harm to at least one area of their life from amphetamine use in 2001 and 2003. Harm to 'energy and vitality', 'financial position', and 'health' were the areas of life most commonly reported harmed from amphetamine use in both 2001 and 2003., Conclusions: Amphetamine remains a drug of serious concern in New Zealand. There is evidence of a levelling out in the prevalence of use and some evidence of a relative decline in availability. After 2001, wider public awareness of the health risks associated with methamphetamine use, and increasing law enforcement and legislative focus on methamphetamine, may have contributed to the stabilisation of the situation by 2003.