Category: Child and Youth Health
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“Radical, or plain common sense?” Public health’s perennial question
Terry Slevin I was recently invited by ABC Radio Adelaide to talk about our policy asks ahead of the March 2026 state election. The invitation followed the release of our association’s South Australian Branch election platform on 13 February. The host of the Mornings programme, Rory McLaren, opened with a…
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Eight ANZJPH articles that made headlines in 2025
Hollie Harwood Each year over 1.1 million readers visit and download articles from the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (ANZJPH). While our journal citations measure impact, they don’t capture one of ANZJPH’s unique strengths – the way that our evidence-based articles influence policy and practice, support advocacy,…
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The global food system’s broken: there are now more obese children than underweight
Claire Johnson For the first time in history, obesity among school-age children and adolescents has overtaken underweight worldwide. That is the headline finding of UNICEF’s 2025 Child Nutrition Report: Feeding Profit released today, which I co-authored during my time at UNICEF Headquarters as the Global Technical Lead for Food Environments…
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Explainer: tobacco excise and illicit markets
Malcolm Baalman The tobacco retail industry is running a targeted campaign to persuade the federal government to freeze or reverse the level of taxation on tobacco products. Industry voices argue that Australian tobacco taxation is high by international standards, and that the decade of steady increases has boosted the illicit…
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Ahead of proposed social media ban for young Australians, are there other protections?
Rebecca Raeside, Melody Taba Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, recently addressed the National Press Club outlining how their office will be implementing the Social Media Minimum Age Bill when it now comes into effect this December (delayed from October). The legislation prevents under 16-year-olds from having social media accounts,…
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Use a gender justice lens across all aspects of health, Lancet Commission urges
Connie Musolino and Kristen Foley More consistent understanding of gender as a social construct by people across the health sector can help lead to better policies and programs and, ideally, healthier, more equitable populations, authors of a Lancet Commission report say. Recognising why and how there’s been a…
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Junk food giants using movies to target children is a public health problem
Jane Martin, Katarnya Hickey, and Rosie Hart If you know school aged children, you likely know about Minecraft. It’s an online, multi-player game that allows children to be creative while building and exploring in a safe and relatively open-ended space. Australian kids love it. Research from New Media &…
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Better ways to communicate health messages to young people
Melody Taba The Sydney Health Literacy Lab & Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute have unveiled their new co-designed framework for social media health communication to young people. It’s useful for all health communicators or health organisations. Compared to previous generations, young people today are more likely to use the internet and…
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Young people, men missing out on vital preconception care
Zahra Ali Padhani and Zohra Lassi When you hear ‘maternal health’, an image of a pregnant woman or new mother may spring to mind. But maternal health doesn’t begin at conception – it encompasses the choices people make about their health in the lead up to pregnancy too. Much attention…
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Launching the Health Hive – for young minds to thrive
The Health Hive is a newly launched online space that equips young people with the skills to meaningfully contribute to research. Emma Soo, Kay Connor, Megan Keller, Jasmeh Kaur, and Julian Vaz, supported by Allyson Todd, Putu Novi Arfirsta Dharmayani, and Dr Stephanie Partridge Research helps us solve mysteries and…
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When it comes to youth mental health, listen to voices that matter
Matilda Houlihan, Kylie Maidment, Stephen Carbone, Lachlan Kent, Thea Orr, and members of the Prevention United Youth Advisory Group (YAG) – Alannah Sander, Chuan Huang Hii, Emily Howells, Isaac Yau, Jasmine Toronis, Katherine Georghiou, Lauren Jackson, Sumeyye Nur Gungor, Wesley Chen, and Zinzan Hunt-Rosacker Prevention United today released the results…
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We shouldn’t lock up young offenders with neurodisability
Dr Fiona Robards and Professor Elizabeth Jane Elliott Barely a month goes by without news of children and adolescents who are imprisoned and being mistreated in youth detention. A new parliamentary inquiry is shining a light on this mistreatment. It’s investigating if youth detention facilities are complying with children’s human rights conventions, and…
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The adolescent social media ban alone won’t work. Here’s what will
Mariah Issa, Imogen Croucher, Allyson Todd, Dr Stephanie Partridge, Rebecca Raeside Adolescence is a time where young people are forming their identity, and are susceptible to environmental, commercial, and social influences. With the rise of ‘wellness’ influencers on Instagram and TikTok, and a bombardment of marketing tactics from large companies,…