The New York Times prompted much public health concern this week with a report in its Well section that Coca-Cola “is backing a new ‘science-based’ solution to the obesity crisis: to maintain a healthy weight, get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories.” It said: “The beverage giant has teamed up with influential scientists […]
Reducing our society’s consumption of sugar is likely to lead to a range of health benefits, including a reduction in the current high rate of overweight/obesity and in related diseases such a diabetes. The latest piece in the JournalWatch series by Dr Melissa Stoneham reviews a report on the first cost-effectiveness study of a ‘soft drink […]
As New South Wales and South Australia launch discussions on the merits of lifting the rate of the GST from 10 to 15 per cent “in order to pay for the increasing cost of healthcare”, they might want first to consider their health care priorities. Associate Professor Samantha Battams reveals below “a sad state of […]
The health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is Australia’s most urgent and serious health challenge. Despite this fact, Indigenous issues barely rated a mention in the Federal Government’s most recent Budget. This, however, does not mean that Indigenous communities are unaffected by the Budget measures. In fact there are a broad range of impacts […]
This fortnight’s Health Wrap has been prepared by my colleague Ellice Mol, Digital Communications Manager at The Sax Institute. Send your ideas for The Health Wrap to me on Twitter via @medicalmedia. By Ellice Mol Huff and puff on windfarms Prime Minister Tony Abbott sparked renewed discussion […]
Access to healthy and affordable food and good health care is a big issue for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly those living in remote communities. The recent National Rural Health Conference in Darwin has called for a Senate Inquiry into food security for remote communities, while the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjar (NPY) Women’s […]
This article is adapted from an editorial published in the most recent edition of the Australasian Medical Journal. Thanks to the Editor for his approval. Marc Tennant and Estie Kruger, International Research Collaborative – Oral Health and Equity, The University of Western Australia, write: If this was the 1960’s we would be talking about how […]
Social media is opening up the processes of public health advocacy and efforts to hold governments to account, according to Dr Mark Lock, a Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle. As part of the Aboriginal Voice Integration and Diffusion or AVID Study, Dr Lock is examining […]
The impact of rebate freezes, the need for improved access to dental care and medicines and the expansion of private health insurance into primary health care have all been ignored in this Budget as part of the Government’s covert goal to destroy Medicare and reinstate a two-tier health system, according to Tim Woodruff, Vice president, Doctors Reform Society. *** Tim Woodruff […]
After the drama of last year’s ‘slash and burn’ Budget, the Abbott Government’s second Federal Budget was designed to underwhelm the health sector and in this respect at least it delivered. In fact, the lack of organisation at the Department of Health lock-up appeared to bother some groups more than the $2 billion of cuts […]