Articles by fronjacksonwebb

Colin Hunt writes:  The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report repeats the message we’ve heard from many sources – we’re heading for a temperature rise of much more than 2°C. But given its international reach and expertise, the agency is uniquely placed to recommend what we can do to fix the problem. They’ve come up with four [...]

Surinder Baines writes: Ethical and environmental considerations are often the prompt for adopting a meat-free diet. But better health may also push some towards vegetarianism, with a new study showing vegetarians have a lower risk of premature death than their meat-eating counterparts. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day Adventists placed the participants into [...]

Anthony Scott writes: If you live far from a city, you are likely to be in poorer health than your urban counterparts; you’re also less likely to use health-care services and if you do, you’ll have to wait longer for care. In rural areas, almost one-third (29%) of patients wait 24 hours or more to see [...]

Nick Glozier writes: The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has copped the predicted criticisms since its release on the weekend. Most centre on the idea thatmore of us will be diagnosed with mental disorders, as the diagnostic thresholds are lowered. Critics have also argued these thresholds will lead to [...]

Julie Leask and Hal Willaby write: A recent News Limited campaign to enable childcare centres in NSW to refuse entry to unvaccinated children is gaining momentum, with the legislation expected to be introduced to NSW parliament this week. The proposal stems from a public outcry about vaccination rates arising from profound levels of support that most Australians have for [...]

Jayashri Kulkarni: Women admitted to psychiatry wards experience high levels of violence and sexual assaults, according to a report released this week by the Victorian Mental Illness Alliance Council. Across the nine different psychiatry hospital wards surveyed in Victoria, 85% of female inpatients felt unsafe during hospitalisation, 67% reported experiencing sexual or other forms of harassment [...]

Olav Nielssen writes:  Just when we thought we were heading for a more tolerant and accepting attitude toward people afflicted by mental illness, a feature and a news article in Saturday’s The Australian quoting leaders in the area of forensic psychiatry have revived the old mental-illness-equals-axe-murderer stigma. One of the articles was based on a recent paper published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica [...]

In the seventh part of The Conversation’s series Health Rationing, Richard Norman and Rosalie Viney explain the controversial system governments use to decide what will and won’t be covered under Australia’s universal health system. They write:  With finite health budgets and the prospect of infinite ways to spend funds, rationing inevitably occurs. But how do policymakers come to decisions [...]

In the sixth part of The Conversation’s series Health Rationing, Mark Mackay examines the latest think tank blueprint to rein in Australia’s rising health costs. But he warns that before funding models are adjusted, governments must make some tough decisions about the type of health care they’re willing to pay for. He writes: In recent weeks, [...]

Hal Swerissen writes: The announcement that opposition leader Tony Abbott will support a 0.5% increase to the Medicare Levy to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) takes the politics out of about half the additional funding needed for the scheme – for a while, at least. Prime Minister Julia Gillard will introduce legislation to pass the levy through [...]