Category Archives: environmental health

Health & medical celebrations at The Conversation, plus a wrap of other health media news

March 29, 2012 – 10:54 am

Twitter celebrated its sixth birthday last week, and this week it is the turn of The Conversation to be marking its first anniversary. According to the site’s co-founder, Andrew Jaspan, The Conversation has had more than 2.5 million unique visitors in its first year, almost 4 million total visits, and 8 million page views. Over 300 [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health and medical research, Media-related issues, social media and healthcare, The Conversation, Uncategorized, vaccination, vaccines | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Considering the health impacts of coal seam gas extraction in Queensland

March 19, 2012 – 9:45 am

If you haven’t already seen it, this innovative collaboration between Crikey, academics and writers, is running an investigation of coal seam gas mining, in the run-up to the Queensland election. The aim is to provide “a new model of analytical and interactive journalism which will hold the debate accountable to fact”. As is so often [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Media-related issues, public health, rural and remote health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Why Federal Cabinet should include a Minister for Food

February 16, 2012 – 3:49 pm

Food policy is such an important – and contested – space that we should have a Food Minister, in Cabinet, according to Michael Moore, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, and Associate Professor Heather Yeatman of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Wollongong. *** Making the case for a Ministry for Food Michael [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Food, Health inequalities, health reform, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Latest wrap of health and medical reading from The Conversation

February 7, 2012 – 9:44 am

Thanks to Fron Jackson-Webb for providing this latest wrap of reading from The Conversation (http://theconversation.edu.au/). It includes articles about universities teaching complementary medicine, the Medicare Safety Net, new research on caesarean sections, e-prescriptions and hospital errors, and urban development. You can also read an article from The Conversation’s editor, Andrew Jaspan, on mining magnate Gina [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in adverse events, childbirth and maternity services, complementary medicines, e-health, health reform, Hospitals, Media-related issues, public health, road safety, The Conversation, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Caring for country is also good for Aboriginal people

January 27, 2012 – 9:22 am

In its latest Croakey update, the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service (better known as PHC RIS) highlights an article examining the relationship between caring for country and health. *** Healthy country, healthy people: Involvement in land management has positive health benefits for Aboriginal Australians Bradley Smith writes: Aboriginal people have jurisdiction over roughly [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Indigenous health, primary health care, public health, social determinants of health | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Could spending less on healthcare be better for our health?

December 4, 2011 – 6:06 pm

When asked to write about international issues in healthcare for a recent column in The Health Advocate, Dr Patrick Bolton, a National Councillor of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, identified a few interesting questions, including: Would we get better health returns from disinvesting in healthcare in order to be able to invest more in [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, health workforce, Hospitals, Indigenous health, nurses and nursing, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

So we now have another international declaration on the social determinants of health. What difference will it make (or not)?

November 2, 2011 – 7:41 pm

The best and the worst of global health politics were on show at the recent international conference on the social determinants of health in Rio, Brazil. That is according to one of the Australian participants at the conference, Professor Sharon Friel, an ARC Future Fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, the [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in education, global health, public health, social determinants of health | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Climate change and rural health: a GP’s call for action, plus an update on recent studies

October 28, 2011 – 2:12 pm

Rural health issues are likely to be in the news thanks to a conference starting in Alice Springs today, hosted by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM). Perhaps any discussions about rural health should also be contemplating the impact of climate change – that’s the [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in climate change, disasters, mental health, rural and remote health | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Why we need to transform Australia: leading public health expert

October 21, 2011 – 8:02 pm

Emeritus Professor Bob Douglas writes: Earlier this month in Geelong, I attended a National Summit on “Transforming Australia”. This was a three-day meeting of 60 invited activists from various civil society groups around Australia. We were united by a common concern that Australia will not be able to deal effectively with the problems that now [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in global health, Health inequalities, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Richard Smith: tweeting the news on climate change, health and security

October 19, 2011 – 9:47 am

Richard Smith, a leader in international public health, has been tweeting about the conference held in London earlier this week on the health and security implications of climate change, as previously mentioned. Here are some of his tweets (for those without the time or inclination to wade the T-verse). The Twitter tag is #healthandsecurity.

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in climate change, private health insurance, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (1)