Aims: Food insecurity is a lack of assured access to sufficient nutritious food. We aimed to investigate the demographic and socio‐economic determinants of food insecurity in New Zealand and whether these determinants vary between males and females. Methods: We used data from the longitudinal Survey of Families, Income and Employment (SoFIE) (n=18,950). Respondents were classified as food insecure if, in the past 12 months, they had to use special food grants or food banks, been forced to buy cheaper food to pay for other things, or had to go without fresh fruit and vegetables often. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association of demographic and socio‐economic factors on food insecurity. Models were repeated stratifying by males and females. Results: More than 15% of the SoFIE population in NZ were food insecure in 2004/05. The prevalence of food insecurity was much greater in females (19%) than males (12%). The adjusted odds of food insecurity was significantly higher in females compared to males (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5–1.8). In univariate analyses, food insecurity was associated with sole parenthood, unmarried status, younger age groups, Māori and Pacific ethnicity, worse self‐rated health status, renting, being unemployed and lower socioeconomic status. Income was the strongest predictor of food insecurity in multivariate modelling (OR 4.9, 95%CI 4.0–5.9 for lowest household income quintile versus highest). The associations of demographic and socioeconomic factors with food insecurity were similar in males and females. Conclusions: Food insecurity is a timely and relevant issue, as it affects a significant number of New Zealanders. Targeted policy interventions aimed at increasing money available in households are needed.

This paper reports on a complex environmental approach to addressing 'wicked' health promotion problems devised to inform policy for enhancing food security and physical activity among Māori, Pacific and low-income people in New Zealand. This multi-phase research utilized literature reviews, focus groups, stakeholder workshops and key informant interviews. Participants included members of affected communities, policy-makers and academics. Results suggest that food security and physical activity 'emerge' from complex systems. Key areas for intervention include availability of money within households; the cost of food; improvements in urban design and culturally specific physical activity programmes. Seventeen prioritized intervention areas were explored in-depth and recommendations for action identified. These include healthy food subsidies, increasing the statutory minimum wage rate and enhancing open space and connectivity in communities. This approach has moved away from seeking individual solutions to complex social problems. In doing so, it has enabled the mapping of the relevant systems and the identification of a range of interventions while taking account of the views of affected communities and the concerns of policy-makers. The complex environmental approach used in this research provides a method to identify how to intervene in complex systems that may be relevant to other 'wicked' health promotion problems.

Background: In New Zealand the burden of nutrition-related disease is greatest among Māori, Pacific and low-income peoples. Nutrition labels have the potential to promote healthy food choices and eating behaviours. To date, there has been a noticeable lack of research among indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and lowincome populations regarding their perceptions, use and understanding of nutrition labels. Our aim was to evaluate perceptions of New Zealand nutrition labels by Māori, Pacific and low-income peoples and to explore improvements or alternatives to current labelling systems. Methods: Māori, Samoan and Tongan researchers recruited participants who were regular food shoppers. Six focus groups were conducted which involved 158 people in total: one Māori group, one Samoan, one Tongan, and three low-income groups. Results: Māori, Pacific and low-income New Zealanders rarely use nutrition labels to assist them with their food purchases for a number of reasons, including lack of time to read labels, lack of understanding, shopping habits and relative absence of simple nutrition labels on the low-cost foods they purchase. Conclusions: Current New Zealand nutrition labels are not meeting the needs of those who need them most. Possible improvements include targeted social marketing and education campaigns, increasing the number of low-cost foods with voluntary nutrition labels, a reduction in the price of 'healthy' food, and consideration of an alternative mandatory nutrition labelling system that uses simple imagery like traffic lights.

This important group of stakeholders requires appropriate information so that they can support girls and their parents in deciding whether to have the vaccine. School staff members are potential health advocates with whom consultation should occur before and during the implementation of such programs.

In New Zealand, the burden of nutrition-related disease is greatest among vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, including Maori and Pacific peoples. However, little research is currently available on effective ways to improve nutrition in these communities. This paper describes the development of six paper-based nutrition education resources for multi-ethnic participants in a large supermarket intervention trial. Six focus groups involving 15 Maori, 13 Pacific and 16 non-Maori, non-Pacific participants were held. A general inductive approach was applied to identify common themes around participants' understanding and thoughts on relevance and usefulness of the draft resources. Feedback from focus groups was used to modify resources accordingly. Five themes emerged across all focus groups and guided modification of the resources: (i) perceived higher cost of healthy food, (ii) difficulty in changing food-purchasing habits, (iii) lack of knowledge, understanding and information about healthy food, (iv) desire for personally relevant information that uses ethnically appropriate language and (v) other barriers to healthy eating, including limited availability of healthy food. Many issues affect the likelihood of purchase and consumption of healthy food. These issues should be taken into account when developing nutritional materials for New Zealanders and possibly other multi-ethnic populations worldwide.