Category: Health Promotion
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Collaborating to take an active role to improve heart failure: Heart Foundation and NPS MedicineWise
Brooke Atkins & Amanda Buttery, National Heart Foundation of Australia PHAA’s Note: This article does not constitute medical advice. If you have heart failure, please see your doctor before starting exercise or physical activity. Heart failure is a serious condition where the heart does not pump blood to the rest…
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Encouraging switching away from sugary drinks and towards water – using warning labels and Health Stars
Professor Caroline Miller, Dr Jo Dono and Dr Kerry Ettridge (SAHMRI and The University of Adelaide) Australia has one of the highest rates of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in the world. It is now well known that there are long term health impacts of consuming SSBs, including weight gain, Type…
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Levies on unhealthy products reduce disease and heal the budget deficit
Terry Slevin – PHAA CEO As a result of the pandemic that has changed our lives, some are suggesting that an undeniable response from government will be greater investment in public health. Those closer to decision makers within governments are suggesting the costs incurred due to the pandemic will result…
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International Day of People With a Disability ambassador, Dylan Alcott OAM, on his story so far, and goals
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA 3 December is International Day of People With a Disability (IDPWD). Tennis superstar, Dylan Alcott OAM, is an IDPWD ambassador and his incredible positivity shines through in everything he says and does. Speaking after being named the Victorian state winner recently in the prestigious Australian of…
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New PHAA Board member Aziz Rahman hopes to raise profile of SIGs
Associate Professor Muhammad Aziz Rahman has recently joined the PHAA Board as a co-convenor of the Health Promotion SIG. Currently the Associate Dean Research and Associate Professor of Public Health, School of Health, at Federation University in Victoria, he’s enjoyed a varied career on several continents. This has included studying…
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Why a Prime Ministerial aspirant chose a career in public health instead
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA To date our public health workforce features have documented the careers of professionals with many years of experience. Today, we meet a relative newcomer, who only chose this career path in the past 12 months. The enormous global impact of COVID; the suffering, the challenges, and…
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Digital futures: the intersection of technology and health
Anna Alex – PHAA intern The world is witnessing an era of accelerated and interlinked environmental, technological, economic and societal transformation, brought on by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. In such a scenario, health futures unfold increasingly linked to these changes. The past two years have…
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Pandemic blamed for drowning spike as new studies highlight risks to children and migrants
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA Australians’ love of the water is continuing to prove deadly, with a new report from Royal Life Saving Australia finding more than 500 young children drowned in Australia in the past 19 years. Of the 532 children who died, 40% were aged one, with 77% of…
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Ageing population, climate change create new drowning risks: study
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA Background With the days lengthening, the weather and water warming, and COVID-19 restrictions lifting, many of us are planning our first dip or trip to the beach. Water safety and drownings remain a significant public health issue in Australia, and a leading cause of mortality and…
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PHAA recognises our 2021 Emerging Leader, e-cigarette expert, Dr Michelle Jongenelis
How often do we hear this response? When we asked the winner of the PHAA’s Emerging Leader Award for 2021, Dr Michelle Jongenelis, why she chose a career in public health, her immediate response was “public health chose me!’’ Michelle’s public health journey began in 2014, but what she may…
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An update on the public health vaccination campaign tackling COVID wave in Illawarra
TOBY DAWSON – Vax the Illawarra Campaign Volunteer Background: In September we shared stories about the Vax The Illawarra campaign featuring former PHAA Board member, Dr Summer May Finlay, and two men living with long COVID who support the immunisation project. Here’s an update from the NSW region. The COVID-19…
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PHAA board member, Dr Summer May Finlay, part of community-led COVID19 vaccination campaign
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA One of the leading lights in Australia’s public health sector, proud Yorta Yorta woman, Dr Summer May Finlay, is leading the call for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to get vaccinated against COVID. Prompted by recent data from the Department of Health showing a big…
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The Infodemic: Emerging Public Health Challenges
Zoe Lawrence-Haughey – University of Western Australia Although misinformation has always existed, the rise of social media has pushed it to more catastrophic heights. Dubbed as an ‘infodemic’. It is set to be the next big challenge facing public health professionals – and it is already here, as seen…
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Report says Australia needs a new, gold medal approach to measure our nation’s physical activity performance
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA As Australia’s Olympic team continues to make us proud, smashing records and inspiring a nation, millions of us have been stuck in lock down, where our best chance of imitating our heroes in green and gold has been restricted to our one hour of…
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Diabetiquette: Concerns of those living with diabetes
Zoe Lawrence-Haughey – University of Western Australia Ask anyone with diabetes about shame and stigma, and they will most likely have a story to share. Whether it’s the teacher who takes a sandwich out of your hands and replaces it with a salad, the friend’s boyfriend who jokes about how…
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Junk food companies have no place on the Olympic sponsorship podium
Kathryn Backholer, Christina Zorbas and Florentine Martino The Tokyo Olympics is like no other before it. In the middle of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Olympic stadiums are largely empty. But with half of Australia currently under ‘stay-at-home’ orders, tuning into the Olympics may become the Nation’s biggest-ever broadcasting…
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Swap shapes for rice crackers, chips for popcorn… parents can improve their kids’ diet with these healthier lunchbox options
Matthew Mclaughlin, University of Newcastle; Alison Brown, University of Newcastle; Jannah Jones, University of Newcastle; Luke Wolfenden, University of Newcastle, and Rachel Sutherland, University of Newcastle Four in five primary school students eat a packed lunch every day, costing parents around A$20 a week. That’s almost 10 million lunchboxes across…
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PHAA welcomes support for a sugar tax, while new report warns of impact of sugary drink advertising
For several years the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and other peak health bodies have led the call for the introduction of a health levy on sugar sweetened beverages, targeting the sale of soft drinks to improve the health of our nation. The Rethink Sugary Drink campaign has been…
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COVID-19 vaccine campaigns: the art of health communication
Terry Slevin When it comes to COVID19 vaccine hesitancy, the discussion, debate and media reporting over the past fortnight or so is worrying, particularly for those in the public health community who have been monitoring the pandemic closely from the start. One of Australia’s leading experts in this area, PHAA…
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It’s that time of year again. New survey reveals where Aussies get their flu shots
Public Health Association of Australia Winter is coming…and every year influenza causes thousands of hospitalisations and hundreds of deaths in Australia, though 2020 was an outlier in this regard as COVID restrictions led to a significant decline in influenza cases nationally. Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to…
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PNG in COVID crisis: Australia needs to urgently provide one million more vaccines
The PHAA’s One Health Special Interest Group Convenor, Dr Andrea Britton, recently returned from PNG where she’s been working for the Burnet Institute PNG on a Fleming Fund Country Grant project to tackle antimicrobial resistance. Just out of quarantine, Andrea reflects on her observations, the massive challenges PNG faces in…
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How unhealthy industries shape public opinions on health policy
Elly Howse Many of us working, teaching and researching in public health are aware of the impact of the commercial or corporate determinants of health – namely, how private sector companies and groups seek to influence decision making and promote the manufacturing, sale and consumption of unhealthy products and practices.…
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Government’s COVID-19 vaccine information campaign an opportunity to provide clearer messages and give community confidence
Public Health Association Australia Late last month the Australian Government launched its $23.9 million public information campaign to encourage Australians to get a COVID-19 vaccination when they become available later this month. The multi-media campaign aims to keep Australians fully informed and up to date about the safety and effectiveness…
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Addressing weight stigma in public health practice
Kristy Law and Dr Claire Pulker It’s time to change the way we talk about obesity. As public health professionals we know there is no single or simple solution to obesity. It is a chronic relapsing condition that is influenced by more than 100 different factors, and most of these…