The politicians may not be talking much about climate change but fortunately many others are. Below are some recent publications to keep you up to date on the issue that will present one of our greatest health challenges. The Critical Decade: Global action building on climate change: This report from the Climate Commission updates [...]
READ MOREArticles by Michelle Hughes
Accreditation – is it money and time well spent?
Many thanks to Dr Anne-marie Boxall, Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research and Drs Reece Hinchcliff and David Greenfield from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation for providing the following insights into the evidence behind accreditation programs: Accreditation programs are deployed widely to monitor and promote safety and quality in healthcare. Governments, health service organisations and accreditation agencies have invested considerable [...]
READ MOREThe decision to recommend PBS listing for RU486 is a significant advance in Australian women’s reproductive health care
Professor Caroline de Costa, from the James Cook University School of Medicine, and Dr Michael Carrette were the first clinicians in Australia to prescribe RU486, having pioneered the Authorised Prescriber approach. Below they provide insight into the implications of last week’s important decision to recommend PBS listing for RU486. The decision, announced last Friday by [...]
READ MOREProposed Australian centre for disease control will deliver high-voltage public health
Last week the parliamentary report Diseases Have No Borders was released at a time when most people’s attention was diverted to other events in Canberra. While the recommendations represent small steps, Trent Yarwood writes that there is reason to be hopeful of a significant public health advance. Many thanks to The Conversation for allowing us [...]
READ MORECuts to community-based health services short-sighted
In December last year Professor Fran Baum wrote New SA report shows why governments are failing to control health spending for this blog in response to the McCann Review of Non-Hospital Based Services. In that article Professor Baum lamented the lack of understanding of community services and primary health care that leads to questionable funding decisions. [...]
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The Good Kidney Riddle: Preventing Disease and Dialysis in the Younger Generations
In 2011 the AIHW published the Chronic Kidney Disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (AIHW, 2011) report which contained some alarming statistics about the renal health of Indigenous Australians. The report found that Indigenous Australians develop end stage kidney disease (ESKD) at over six times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians and that Indigenous Australians were four [...]
READ MOREAnother challenge to the mouse model
Many thanks to Monika Merkes PhD, Honorary Associate, Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing, La Trobe University for the following update on the issue of animal research. Dr Merkes writes: A team of medical researchers has recently issued another challenge to the still widely held view that animal research benefits humans. Dr Junhee Seok, together with 38 [...]
READ MORE“Future fund gives tobacco the flick”
In what is described as a “win for public health” The Age reports that the Future fund is to drop tobacco producers from its investment portfolio.
READ MORE“Blueprint for Better Healthcare”, The Queensland Health Minister’s Locomotive
Yesterday the LNP in Queensland announced its “Blueprint for Better Healthcare”. Michael Moore, CEO Public Health Association of Australia and Adjunct Professor Health Policy and Governance University of Canberra, reports on the launch and the challenges ahead. Michael Moore writes: The Premier of Queensland and his Minister for Health were quite upbeat about the launch of the “Blueprint for [...]
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Social media and tobacco resistance control
Below is the second instalment from Matthew Rodgers at AH&MRC on their successful use of social media. Facebook is helping the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW spread anti-smoking messages to communities across the state. The Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW’s Tobacco Resistance and Control (A-TRAC) team created a Facebook [...]
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