Category Archives: poverty

Starving America?

November 19, 2009 – 12:13 pm

What does economic crisis mean for a country’s health? Hunger and hardship for the population’s most vulnerable, judging by the news coming out of the US.
Croakey’s North American correspondent, Dr Lesley Russell, writes:
“While an excellent discussion is underway on Croakey about the value of calorie labeling in tackling obesity, it has been shocking this week [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Food, Health inequalities, child health, global health, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Staying up to date on swine flu

April 29, 2009 – 12:30 pm

Anyone can sign up for email updates here from the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US.
Don’t be deceived by the title – the updates are coming fast and furious.
But let’s just keep some sense of perspective; at this stage, the numbers of deaths are miniscule [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in infectious diseases, influenza, public health, swine flu | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Will the public interest go missing in forthcoming health debate?

February 12, 2009 – 5:11 pm

The interim report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission is due to be released on Monday. NHHRC Chair, Dr Christine Bennett, will address the National Press Club in Canberra from 12.30pm.
Who says what about the report will be interesting – if only for the insights these comments will yield about the health system [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Health inequalities, Hospitals, Indigenous health, health reform, rural and remote health | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

Is our health system doing a “reverse Robin Hood”?

January 30, 2009 – 10:21 am

Health and communications consultant Mark Ragg spent a fair bit of time wading through health statistics and reports to come up with his own personal assessment of the state of our health system.
His conclusion, as reported in Crikey yesterday, is that the system is generally fine – but it’s not fair.
“You do much better [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Health inequalities, Indigenous health, cancer, chronic diseases, health reform | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Will we act on global poverty, climate change and the rest?

November 25, 2008 – 11:25 am

Professor Stephen Leeder, director of The Australian Health Policy Institute, responds to a recent Crikey article by Fran Baum and colleagues calling for international action on global poverty:
“It was said of the Australian cricket team during several of the ill-fated Ashes series in the 1980s that repeatedly it ‘seized defeat from the jaws of victory’. [...]

By Croakey | Also posted in Health inequalities, climate change | Tagged , , | Comments (0)