With less than a week to go before the Federal Budget 2013, the leaks and rumours (and rumours about leaks) are increasing and speculation about possible new funding measures is mounting. The following analysis looks at the main items on the wish-lists of eight peak health groups and identifies key issues on which there is [...]
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High-speed broadband is high on the federal election agenda for the rural health lobby
The availability of high-speed broadband in rural and remote areas will be a critical election issue if rural health advocates have their way. The 12th National Rural Health Conference in Adelaide made 17 priority recommendations for advancing the health of rural and remote communities, with equitable access to high-speed broadband at the top of the [...]
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Rural health conference puts the spotlight on Indigenous health – and the value of physician assistants
Indigenous health issues featured prominently at the 12th National Rural Health Conference in Adelaide yesterday. In the articles below, Marge Overs reports on the role of physician assistants in improving Aboriginal healthcare, and Kay Coppa, community and public health director at Miwatj Corporation Aboriginal Health in Nhulunbuy, reports on two presentations that she found particularly noteworthy. *** [...]
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The human toll of governments’ failure to work together: “families get torn apart” in Central Australia
The failure of governments to ensure appropriate services for people with kidney disease in Central Australia was recently highlighted at this blog by the CEO of Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Donna Ah Chee. The post was based upon her speech to the recent launch of the Kidney Action Network, in which she described how many patients [...]
READ MOREReforming medical education: a case study (with some parallels to the Titanic)
Traditional approaches to medical education need a radical overhaul if we are to develop a sustainable health system that truly helps those with the greatest needs. But trying to turn around the “Titanic” of a hospital-centric system that encourages hierarchical specialisation is no small task. Dr Kimberley Ivory has been involved in developing a new [...]
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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 MORESustainability and equity concerns should have been front and centre in the new dietary guidelines
(This post was updated on 22 Feb with a response from Professor Amanda Lee, chair of the Dietary Guidelines Working Committee). As previously reported at Croakey, the long-awaited Australian Dietary Guidelines have now been released. The document is structured around five broad guidelines: To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of [...]
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As we move towards constitutional recognition, what can we learn from Indigenous understandings of health (heaps, suggests one GP)
At the National Press Club today, there was explicit acknowledgement of the power of the five-year-old Prime Ministerial apology in improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people. The apology, which you can read here, was for the “profound grief, suffering and loss” inflicted by “the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments”. Tanya Hosch, [...]
READ MOREDavos hears Australian voice on healthy cities
Besides former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the corporate heavyweights from Australia attending this month’s Davos economic summit was a leading figure in the campaign for healthier cities, Fiona Bull. The surging prevalence of obesity and calls for more effective measures to counter the convenience food and drink conglomerates were aired at the World Economic [...]
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