National Ethics Advisory Committee

The National Ethics Advisory Committee's (NEAC) statutory functions are to provide advice to the Minister of Health on ethical issues of national significance regarding health and disability research and services, and to determine nationally consistent ethical standards and provide scrutiny for such research and services.

NEAC was established under section 16 of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000, and its members were appointed in December 2001. The Committee’s full name is the National Advisory Committee on Health and Disability Support Services Ethics, and it is also known by its Māori name; Kāhui Matatika o te Motu. Read more about us.

News and Updates

June 11
cover image of consultation document.

Ethics of Intervention Studies: Discussion Document and draft Ethical Guidelines for Intervention Studies (June 2008)

NEAC is seeking feedback on its Discussion Document and draft Ethical Guidelines for Intervention Studies to make the proposed Guidelines as useful as possible.

Health professionals offer ‘interventions’ to prevent, diagnose or treat illness or disease. They need to know which interventions are safe and effective for the people who seek their help. Intervention studies are their main source of reliable information on this subject.

NEAC’s work on intervention studies aims to contribute to better health outcomes and reduced health inequalities for New Zealanders by assisting researchers to perform sound intervention studies.

Your feedback is invited by Wednesday 23 July 2008.

Please email neac@moh.govt.nz if you would like a copy of this publication.

cover of NEAC annual report.

Annual Report 2006 (Nov 2007)
NEAC's Annual Report 2006 has been presented to the Minister of Health and has been tabled in the House of Representatives. The 2006 annual report states NEAC’s approach to its policy work on services and research ethics, and sets out NEAC’s activities for 2006. This includes major work on elective services, pandemic planning and observational studies. It also contains details of other NEAC projects, committee membership, and secretariat information.

Please email neac@moh.govt.nz if you would like a hard-copy of the 2006 annual report.

Getting Through Together: Ethical values for a pandemic (July 2007)
NEAC has completed its work on ethical values for a pandemic. Getting Through Together emphasises using shared values to help people to care for themselves, their whānau and their neighbours, and using shared values to make decisions in situations of overwhelming demand. Getting Through Together also gives guidance on some key issues in pandemic ethics. The Minister issued a media release on 5 July 2007 in response to NEAC’s pandemic work.

Report to the Minister of Health on Ethical Issues in Elective Services (Feb 2007)
NEAC completed work on ethical issues in elective services and provided a report to the Minister of Health in September 2006. The Ministry of Health issued a media release on 1 February 2007 in response to the NEAC report. See also: NEAC advice on elective services.

View full list of news and updates.

Page last updated 11 June 2008