Long Covid affects as many as 150,000 people in New Zealand. Shockingly, they report a quality of life similar to that of patients with severe cancer or severe MS.
As the focus on Covid-19 has waned and the public has largely returned to ‘normal’, many patients and health experts worry that the debilitating burden of long Covid is going unacknowledged. Public efforts to reduce transmission have largely stalled, yet each new case of long Covid has a profound and potentially life-long impact on patients and their whānau, as well as on our wider health and economic system.
In the webinar our expert panel will help us explore several important questions:
a) More than four years since Covid-19 made itself known, what do we know about long Covid and how to treat it?
b) How does the condition impact New Zealanders and their quality of life? Do we know the size of the problem, and who is most affected?
c) Are patients getting the support they need? If not, why not?
d) What policy and public health interventions are needed to reduce the risks of more people developing long Covid, and to help support those who have it already?
e) Where do we go from here? Is the government taking this seriously enough?
Our panel of experts includes:
Michael Baker - Professor of Public Health, University of Otago.
Paula Lorgelly - Professor of Health Economics and Population Health at Auckland University.
Jenene Crossan - Patient advocate with Long Covid Support Aotearoa.
Warren Tate - Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry, Otago University.
27 авг 2024
