New Zealand Health

Health

Health New Zealand has a high level of ultraviolet radiation, around 40% more intense than you will find in the Mediterranean during the summer. Sunglasses and sunscreen are highly recommended, especially if you are of European descent. Visiting the doctor will cost about NZ$50 and may vary between practices and localities. The New Zealand public hospital system is free of charge to citizens but will charge foreign nationals for treatment received. Travel insurance is highly recommended. Safety The emergency telephone number in New Zealand is 111. Ambulance, Fire and Police can be contacted through this service. Full instructions are on the inside front cover of every telephone book. Crime and security While difficult to make international comparisons, the level of crime in New Zealand is similar to many other western countries. Dishonesty offences, such as theft, are by far the most frequent type of crime. Travellers should take simple, sensible precautions such as putting valuables away out of sight or in a secure place and locking doors or vehicles, even in remote locations, as much of this crime is opportunist in nature. Violent crime is generally associated with alcohol and illicit drug consumption and rowdy bars or drunken crowds in city centres are best avoided, especially late at night. The police, a national force, are generally polite and helpful but will promptly arrest anyone making trouble. Being caught drinking and driving will result in an arrest and police regularly conduct blitzes, often setting up screening checkpoints all around an area, even doing this on motorways. Fixed and mobile speed cameras as well as hand held and car speed detectors are used at random, anywhere — anytime. Police have no discretion for speeding offences and will write tickets for all vehicles caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 km/h. Police have recently upgraded their pursuit training, following a number of deaths of both offenders and innocent third parties during vehicle pursuits. In New Zealand, armed police are a media event. Although all police officers are trained to handle firearms, these are normally only openly worn when the situation requires such weapons, such as an armed offender. Traditionally, New Zealand police only carry batons and offender control (pepper) spray. However, first response patrols will generally have recourse to weapons locked away in their vehicle. The police are free from corruption, and bribes should never be offered to police officers; this will more likely make your situation worse, not better. In fact, offering a bribe is an excellent way of getting a free tour of a New Zealand prison, court room and police cell, not to mention deportation. Natural hazards Severe weather is by far the most common natural hazard encountered in New Zealand. Although New Zealand is not subject to the direct hit of tropical cyclones as such (though coastal areas often experience the tail end of them), stormy weather systems from both the tropics and the polar regions can sweep across New Zealand at various times of the year. There is generally a 7 to 10 day cycle of a few days of wet or stormy weather followed by calmer and drier days as weather systems move across the country. The phrase four seasons in one day (also a famous Kiwi song) is a good description of New Zealand weather, which has a reputation for both changeability and unpredictability. Weather forecasts in New Zealand are generally reliable for overall trends and severe weather warnings should be heeded when broadcast. However both the timing and intensity of any weather events should be assessed from your own location. Simply looking out the window is probably good enough to allow you yourself to predict what the weather will be like for at least the next 15 minutes or so, according to one eminent New Zealand meterologist, though knowing that Northerlies are warm, Southerlies are cold, westerlies are rainy but warm and easterlies are humid (these vary slightly from place to place in NZ) you can predict for yourself quite accurately. Other natural hazards you may encounter in New Zealand, though far more rarely are: Strong Earthquakes — New Zealand sits astride a tectonic plate boundary and experiences large numbers (~14,000/year) of small earthquakes every year, a few (~200/year) are noticeable and the occasional one causes damage and sometimes loss of life. However, the last big one causing serious loss of life was at Napier and Hastings in 1931. The latest quake is reported by GeoNet. Volcanic eruptions — New Zealand has a number of volcanoes that are classified as active or dormant. Only Mount Ruapehu and White Island have been active recently. Volcanic activity is monitored by GeoNet. Lahar — There is currently an active Lahar Alert for Mount Ruapehu's crater lake breaking through a tephra dam and flooding the Whangaehu River with a lahar sometime between the beginning of 2005 and late 2006. There are no poisonous or substantially dangerous animals in New Zealand. No large mammalian predators are present and no large predatory reptiles. Certain species of Weta can deliver a very painful but harmless bite and there are a few non-venomous spiders on the coastal regions, but overall New Zealand's fauna is harmless.

[ World Health Orginisation ]

[ Hospital of Tropical Diseases ]