Should public health advocates be lobbying for bike share schemes in Australia? Yes, suggests Dr Melissa Stoneham of the Public Health Advocacy Institute WA (PHAIWA). In the latest edition of JournalWatch, she reviews a recent study investigating the impact of such a scheme in Montreal. *** On your bike!! Why we need more bike share schemes [...]
READ MOREOn Big Food, unhealthy partnerships, and the public health benefits of regulation
When the junk food and alcohol industries seek to cosy up to health professionals and organisations, beware. The aim of such “partnerships” is to stop the sort of regulation that is needed to improve public health and safety, according to the latest JournalWatch article profiled by Dr Melissa Stoneham of the Public Health Advocacy Institute [...]
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 MOREDo exclusionary private health insurance products need a re-think?
A recent paper published in the Australian Health Review raises some important policy issues for the future of private health insurance in Australia but has been largely overlooked by the media and in public debate. The paper is titled Reflections on the role of less-than-comprehensive (exclusionary) private health insurance hospital products in the Australian healthcare [...]
READ MOREAre there real grounds for hope about the renewal of healthcare?
Ray Moynihan, author and Senior Research Fellow at Bond University, has identified ten reasons for optimism about the future of healthcare in his regular BMJ column, including the greening movement, and increasing focus on the social and environmental determinants of health. Have the scents of spring gone to his head? Or is he onto something? [...]
READ MORETaking health and medical writing beyond spin – and some other worthy pointers for writers and journalists
Dr Justin Coleman may be best known to Croakey readers as The Naked Doctor but he wears many hats, including as president of the Australasian Medical Writers Association. In the article below, he gives an overview of the association’s recent conference, which covered issues ranging from social justice and Indigenous health to the ethics of [...]
READ MOREA call for more research and planning to deal with the public health challenges of mega-events
We live in the era of mass gatherings – and it’s not only the Olympics crowds that bring this to mind. More than 5 million people are thought to have recently attended the 2012 UEFA European Football Championships, held across Poland and the Ukraine. In October, about 3 million people from 183 countries are expected [...]
READ MOREPrimary health care: when and where did it all begin?
Continuing the primary health care theme of the previous post, health policy expert Professor Philip Davies investigates the history of the terms “primary care” and “primary health care” – a topical matter given the legal action recently dropped by Primary Health Care Ltd. *** Tracking the long history of primary health care Philip Davies writes: After [...]
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UK quit smoking campaigns come under fire
Quit smoking campaigns in the UK that promote nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are wrong to discourage the “cold turkey” approach, and could learn a lesson from Australian efforts, suggests Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the University of Sydney. *** Raising questions about the medicalisation of smoking cessation Professor Simon Chapman writes: Two [...]
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On health reform in England, and Mr Magoo
(Update on March 1: Links to more reading have been added to the bottom of the post). Huge amounts of media space are being consumed by furore over the NHS reforms in England (though I haven’t seen much coverage in Australia). According to the official summary of The Health and Social Care Bill 2010-12, the reforms will [...]
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