Thesis
Surveillance gaps and System Cracks: An investigation of possible ways to improve rheumatic fever surveillance in New Zealand
Background: Rheumatic fever (RF) and its sequela rheumatic heart disease (RHD) occur at unusually high levels in New Zealand. A disease of social deprivation, RF now almost exclusively affects Māori and Pacific peoples. In 2011, the Government announced a goal to reduce the incidence of RF by two-thirds to 1.4 per 100,000 and make RF...