Peter Tait Two things happened in late July that makes me worry for the future of the public’s health in…
Where are all the public health workers?
Terry Slevin Significant gaps in the size, training, structure and credentialing of the public health workforce have been exposed as a…
Smoking rates falling among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
Christina Heris and David Thomas Following a history of being paid or provided with rations of tobacco, smoking is…
Victoria’s second wave calls for solidarity
Anna Nicholson and Bronwyn Carter Victorians have faced another rough week. For many in public health, our early optimism…
Nuclear weapons are still a threat 75 years on from Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Jaya Dantas The Public Health Association of Australia on the 6th and 9th August 2020 notes the 75th anniversaries of…
Boris Johnson: could he really be a champion for public health?
Jane Martin and Alexandra Jones The United Kingdom’s ground-breaking obesity strategy, launched recently by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is close…
Mental health and adaptation to climate change
Dr Fiona Robards, Co-Convenor Mental Health Special Interest Group, PHAA Climate change presents an existential threat. It is almost unbelievable…
The false dichotomy of public health and the economy
Louisa Gordon Six months into the COVID-19 crisis and Australia is faring well on a global scale. Contributing factors…
COVID Wars: Do we have the resources to take up the public health battle?
Terry Slevin, PHAA CEO On 25 January 2020, Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, made a public announcement that Australia had…
Those who ‘pay the piper’ damage our health
Malcolm Baalman Should political donations from industries which sell harmful products, and then lobby governments vigorously to give them favourable…
Nice to get a win for public health
Dr Ingrid Johnston and Professor Simone Pettigrew We often say in public health that it’s a long, hard game.…
Let’s make the handshake history
As many Australians are emerging from lockdown and returning to workplaces, sporting activities and social meeting places, there’s a distinct nervousness and unease about how we greet our friends and colleagues after such a long time apart. For most people, the traditional hug and kiss are certainly off-limits until further notice. Many months of public health warnings and 20-plus hand washes a day, together with the rigorous use of hand sanitizer, has put the humble handshake onto the back-burner, at least for the time being.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration must do better.
Almost 2 years after complaints about numerous hangover products were submitted to the TGA they have finally published one outcome. The TGA agreed there was insufficient evidence to support claims related to hangover relief. This important result is buried in an obscure section of the TGA’s website, has not been publicised, and has yet to be applied to the many other products complained about.
Blame and COVID-19?
We remain in the midst of the world’s worst health crisis in a century. Millions of cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed around the world and hundreds of thousands of deaths have ensued. So, who should we blame? Well, I think a more important question is, where does blame get us?
Australia’s leading cause of preventable, non-genetic disability is not required to carry a warning: is that about to change?
Food safety ministers are being urged to prioritise the health of families and the community when they meet on 17 July to vote on an effective pregnancy health warning for alcohol products. Alcohol is the leading cause of preventable non-genetic developmental disability in Australia. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) affects between 2-9% of babies born each year.
COVID-19 policy responses show why political literacy is a public health issue
The adage “never discuss politics or religion” is invariably proffered to us with well-meaning intent at some point during our life. If anything, when it comes to public health issues, we need to be discussing politics more, not less, and certainly not avoiding it altogether.
It’s time to stop locking up 10 year olds
Many Australians would no doubt be shocked to learn that our current laws in every State and Territory allow children as young as 10 years old to be arrested by Police and sentenced to prison by Courts. That’s a primary school child, removed from their family, school and everything familiar to them, and locked in a cell. As a parent, it’s when your own child reaches the age of 10 that the horror of this possibility becomes real.
Standing against the slide to fascism: what can public health do now?
It is said that democracy is a frail flower in need of constant nurturing. Having decried our slip toward fascism (in Croakey and the Public Health Association of Australia blog) I thought it useful to think about actions the public health movement might take to stand up for democracy.
Black Lives Matter protests should proceed – safely
Two hugely important public health objectives – Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 have been framed as competing imperatives. They are not. The Black Lives Matter movement in Australia seeks to highlight the deplorable circumstances of disadvantage and discrimination experienced by Australia’s First people.
Health inequalities: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
The poorest Australians are twice as likely to die before age 75 as the richest, and the gap is widening. People living in socially disadvantaged areas and outside major cities are much more likely to die prematurely, our new research shows.
We don’t know if breastfeeding is rising or falling in Australia. That’s bad for everyone
As the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us all too well, good health policy depends on prior planning, decisive action, and a willingness to spend money. But there’s another area where Australia’s willingness to plan and spend has fallen far short: monitoring breastfeeding rates.
COVID in Australia – how have we done and where to from here?
Australia’s response to COVID-19 so far, has been one of the better examples globally: consistently led by medical and scientific advice. It was bipartisan, cooperative and decisive. Yet, this success has come at significant costs.
20% of pregnant Australian women don’t receive the recommended mental health screening
One-fifth of Australian women still don’t receive mental health checks both before and after the birth of their baby, our research published today has found.
Coordinating a response to bushfire and climate change crisis
By David Templeman, former Director General of Emergency Management Australia and President of the Public Health Association Australia As states…
“As Australia slips toward fascism, where does the public health community stand?”
The fires, floods and COVID-19 pandemic have shown the fragility of industrial civilisation and the strength and resilience of people and community.
Do companion animals spread Q fever?
Q fever is an important human disease that is transmitted from animals. Most cases in Australia occur after exposure to farm animals, especially cattle, sheep, and goats. A recent increase in human Q fever cases in northern NSW in people without direct farm animal exposures raised concerns about alternative routes of infection, including from companion animals.
Re-opening gambling venues will create serious health risks
State governments are planning to reopen pokie venues due to heavy lobbying by the gambling industry. However, there a number of public health issues which need to be addressed to ensure reopening these venues will not endanger the health of those who use or work there.
As coronavirus restrictions ease, here’s how you can navigate public transport as safely as possible
As coronavirus restrictions continue to ease, one of the key challenges we face is how to deal with people moving around a lot more.
Making tobacco companies responsible for our most common item of litter
Cigarette butts have long been the most common item of litter globally. About four and a half trillion cigarette butts are disposed of in the environment each year. Despite the decrease in the number of smokers in Australia, butts remain the single most common item of litter.
Where do you fit? Tokenistic, ally – or accomplice?
This National Reconciliation Week is a good time to decide where you fit – how can you support the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Just three per cent of the Australian population, are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We need the other 97 per cent of Australians to do the heavy lifting if we are ever to see true reconciliation.
Australia’s golden opportunity to prevent future outbreaks
COVID-19 shows the urgency of global public health investments. The virus has no vaccine yet, but a host of other infections do. Measles; polio, whooping cough; forms of meningitis and pneumonia; and other diseases have vaccines that substantially reduce their risks.
The positives and negatives of mass testing for coronavirus
Many jurisdictions around the world are now testing people without symptoms as part of efforts to manage COVID-19. In Victoria, asymptomatic health-care workers have been part of the recent “testing blitz”.
7 questions answered on how to socialise safely as coronavirus restrictions ease
You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief as coronavirus restrictions are eased across Australia.
A business focused National COVID-19 Coordination Commission is not enough
The recently created National COVID-19 Coordination Commission has been set up to advise on all non-health aspects on the pandemic. But there are serious concerns about its scope, membership and authority.
Supermarkets claim to have our health at heart. But their marketing tactics push junk foods
Supermarkets like to portray themselves as having the health of the community at heart.
COVID-19 fuels global health tensions
As of 10 May over four million COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide, with 280,000 confirmed deaths. The pandemic has highlighted the need for strong national health systems and regional infectious disease monitoring.
Contact tracing apps are vital tools in the fight against coronavirus. But who decides how they work?
Last week the head of Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency, Randall Brugeaud, told a Senate committee hearing an updated version of Australia’s COVIDSafe contact-tracing app would soon be released. That’s because the current version doesn’t work properly on Apple phones.
The future for preventive health in Australia
In 2018, with our focus turned to the 2019 federal election, the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) launched the “Top Ten successes in Public Health in the past 20 years”. Even before seeing our list, most audiences can pick five to seven of the ten items on it, so obvious are some of the success stories.
Navigating COVID-19 social distancing rules for Aboriginal people
Social distancing is largely self-regulated, with people generally doing the right thing on their own. The police are enforcing these important public health guidelines, notably in public places. But are police enforcing restrictions equally, without any racial discrimination?
Getting to the causes: Mental health and making real productivity gains post COVID
For many of us, forced to work at home or to not work at all, the COVID-19 crisis has driven home the importance of mental health and how work interacts with our sense of wellbeing.