Te Niwha Update - October 2025

Greetings from Te Manu Taupua

Kia ora tātou,

This month, our team has been focused on preparing for one of the most significant events in our calendar - the Infectious Diseases Summit 2025, to be held this November at Tuurangawaewae Marae. This will be an important opportunity to showcase the progress of Te Niwha’s research and connect across the wider infectious-disease and pandemic-preparedness community. (Please see below for full details and registration.)

Apart from the Summit the team has been busy working to ensure all the amazing mahi continues across the research programme.

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with some of you in Kirikiriroa and Tāmaki Makaurau. It was a fantastic opportunity to gain a clearer sense of where your work is currently at, learn more about the unique and diverse pieces of research underway, and witness first-hand the enthusiasm and passion that drives our research community.

These conversations were incredibly valuable and have helped deepen my understanding of the breadth and impact of the mahi being carried out through Te Niwha. I’m looking forward to connecting with more of you over the coming weeks, including next week with our Ōtepoti projects, as we move toward the completion of this phase of infectious diseases research.

Ngā mihi nui
Maree

Summit Update

Upcoming Event: Infectious Diseases Summit 2025

📅 10 - 13 November 2025
📍 Tuurangawaewae Marae, Ngaaruawaahia (~ 20 km from Hamilton)

Returning to Tuurangawaewae Marae three years after Te Niwha’s launch, this Summit will celebrate progress, showcase capability, and strengthen New Zealand’s future pandemic preparedness.

Why attend?

Hear from leading New Zealand voices including Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Prof Nigel French, and Prof Marama Muru-Lanning.
Explore 80+ research presentations spanning influenza, antimicrobial resistance, vaccines, One Health, and Indigenous / community-led approaches.
Join panel discussions, workshops, and networking forums - including an AMR networking session, an open Ngātahi Forum, and a Group A Streptococcus research wānanga.
Connect with researchers, policymakers, health professionals, and community leaders shaping New Zealand’s preparedness.

Register now to secure your place

We encourage you to also share this invitation with colleagues and networks who may be interested, to ensure no one in the sector misses out.

We look forward to welcoming you to Tuurangawaewae Marae in November.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Te Niwha Team

Te Whata Kura – a New National Antibiotic Guideline

The team behind the Te Niwha funded project, “Addressing Inequity in Antibiotic Use: Strengthening Antimicrobial Stewardship Throughout Aotearoa to Improve the Health of New Zealanders,” is excited to announce the early release of Te Whata Kura - a new national antibiotic guideline developed over the past 18 months

TWK is a web-based application designed for use in both community and hospital settings, enabling healthcare professionals to quickly identify the preferred antibiotic treatments for a wide range of common infectious diseases.

The development process involved several key steps:

Conducting interviews with end-users to understand their needs.
Drs. Sharon Gardiner and Sarah Metcalf from Te Whatu Ora Waitaha synthesized content from the many existing antibiotic guidelines across Aotearoa.
The content was reviewed by project team members and refined using a DELPHI method in collaboration with antimicrobial stewardship committees nationwide.
Eamon Duffy translated the content into decision algorithms to power the web-based support system.
The team rigorously validated these algorithms through over 7,500 reviews to ensure accuracy.

In parallel, Drs. Gardiner, Sarah Primhak and Associate Professor Emma Best followed a similar process to develop the paediatric guideline which was reviewed by an expert panel of paediatricians.

The early release of Te Whata Kura (available at TeWhataKura.nz*) will launch this month. Over the following month, the project team invites all TWK users to provide feedback directly through the website, especially innovative ideas to enhance equitable antibiotic use in Aotearoa. After collecting and incorporating this feedback, the formal launch of Te Whata Kura is planned for December.

*the website will go live later this week, please check back later if the webpage does not come up