Category: International Health
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WHO statement on notification of withdrawal of the United States
World Health Organization Note: This statement, published on 24 January 2026, is also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish As a founding member of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States of America has contributed significantly to many of WHO’s greatest achievements, including the eradication of…
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Using a One Health lens to strengthen epidemic preparedness systems
Syeda Tazrian Islam, Andrea Britton, Peter Black, and Babatunde Balogun Every 27 December, the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness encourages global reflection on how we build strong and resilient health systems. The 2025 theme, Strengthening Global Health Systems for Future Crises, is particularly relevant for Australia as the interim…
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Rabies spreading due to pandemic setbacks and US funding cuts, Americas conference told
Dr Andrea Britton, Syeda Islam, and Dr Alison Hoger The COVID-19 pandemic and the United States’ funding cuts to programs has affected rabies control efforts in the Americas, and meant the disease has reemerged in dogs in some countries for the first time in 25 years. These findings were among…
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Dala ng Agos ng Pagbagago (Swept up in change): Elevating the stories of Filipino international health workers
Penelope Smith and Juhani Capeding What happens when the people who care for the world’s health are forced to leave their own communities behind? Every year, on average 13,000 Filipino health workers migrate in search of opportunity not just for themselves, but for their families. In Australia, many find new…
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Who takes care of our most vulnerable?
Penelope Smith People who migrate to work in health – whether in frontline delivery, program design, or research – are a vital part of the health workforce in Australia and globally. International health workers bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that, if thoughtfully leveraged, could be powerful.…
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Strong public health workforce needed to manage next global crisis
Adj Assoc Prof Priscilla Robinson and Hon Assoc Prof Leanne Coombe Following the release of the COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report last week, there has been plenty written about Australia’s response to the pandemic. Commentaries have explored the ongoing impacts on mental health through to the erosion of public trust in…
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Nations struggle to reach consensus on Pandemic Agreement as negotiations continue
Leanne Coombe and James Scheibner The 77th World Health Assembly (WHA), held from 27 May – 1 June 2024, promised to be historic. In the wake of COVID-19, the event marked the deadline for countries to come together on an agreement for how countries collaborate to prepare for, and prevent,…
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Please help stop the war on children in Gaza – appeal by paediatricians and child health experts
Prof Fiona Stanley AC FAA FASSA FAHMS and Dr Suezanne Packer AO FRACP Prof Stanley is a longstanding public health leader, and a Life Member of the Public Health Association. As paediatricians and child health professionals we have committed our professional lives to promoting the physical and psychological health of…
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Global field experience to benefit future health professionals
Dr Muhammad Aziz Rahman, Professor of Public Health Health and wellbeing are determined by many sociocultural factors aside from the structure of the health system and available resources. In developed countries like Australia, it can be less obvious how factors such as religion, gender, and socioeconomic status impact health, as…
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Advocacy strategies for advancing health in all policies: what works for trade policymaking?
Dr Belinda Townsend, Australian Research Centre for Health Equity, Australian National University, Ms Brigitte Tenni, School of Psychology and Population Health, La Trobe University & Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, Ms Sharni Goldman, Australian Research Centre for Health Equity, Australian National University & Associate Prof Deborah Gleeson,…
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Timor-Leste’s Institute of Public Health builds links with Australian partners
Malcolm Baalman, PHAA Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor This week the PHAA national office hosted Dr Merita Monteiro, foundation President of the newly created Timor-Leste (East Timor) National Institute of Public Health (Prezidente do Conselho Diretivo do Instituto Nacional de Saúde Pública de Timor-Leste, INSP-TL). (Photo from left: PHAA Senior…
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Turning a corner for public health workers: Updates on a global workforce roadmap
Adj. Assoc Prof Priscilla Robinson and Hon. Assoc Prof Leanne Coombe, PHAA Policy and Advocacy Manager Public health has achieved a great deal of visibility because of the pandemic, but it is important that this momentum is not now lost as we ‘return to normal’. This is the first of…
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Successes and challenges related to ending the HIV pandemic
Nwogo. I.Ekeji, Ph.D., MPH, PHAA member Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has thus far infected over 79.3 million people globally, leaving an estimated 40.1 million dead. In 2021, just over 38 million people were estimated to be living with HIV globally, of which 85% were aware of their HIV-positive status and…
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Australia’s Centre for Disease Control: Signposts from foreign lands
Dr Babatunde Balogun, PhD candidate at the Australian Institute of Health Service Management, University of Tasmania Here we are. The end of a journey that started 35 years ago is now within sight. The seed sown in a 1987 meeting of Australia’s epidemiology experts about a federal coordinating body for…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 6 December 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, a London-based Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an…
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PHAA members’ review of books – The Great Influenza (2004)
The Great Influenza by John M Barry (published 2004). Reviewed by Deborah Hilton and Natasha Hilton (above, right) In The Great Influenza, John M Barry describes the so-called Spanish ‘flu of 1918-19 as the ‘deadliest plague in history’. A historical account of various scientists and academics is given, mentioning methods and…
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Education key to breaking barriers and empowerment
Raquel de Brito, Curtin Commons As India’s extreme gender disparities prevailed around her, a young Jaya Dantas buried herself in her studies and broke through what seemed like impossible barriers the only way she knew how, with education. Today, she continues to use her education as a beacon of hope for others…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 15 September 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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Our home, our body, our planet
By Takuzo Kimura, physiotherapist and volunteer with the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) Has your room ever gotten a little messier the week before an important deadline? In Japanese culture, there is a belief that the way someone’s home looks says a lot about their state of mind. The pressures…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 8 September 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 1 September 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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Monkeypox – the next global vaccine equity failure?
Deborah Gleeson, La Trobe University Inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines has turned out to be the catastrophic moral failure the World Health Organization’s director-general warned about at the beginning of 2021. International efforts to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccine doses failed miserably during 2020-2021, when wealthy countries bought up the bulk…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 25 August 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 18 August 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 11 August 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 4 August 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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Should ACDC go global?
Meru Sheel and Joel Negin The new government’s proposed Australian Centre for Disease Control (and Prevention) faces a daunting task coordinating across eight states and territories and providing national leadership. And yet, there is an important discussion required about adding a further, extremely complicated element of scope to the initiative:…
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Monkeypox in Australia: should you be worried? And who can get the vaccine?
Jaya Dantas, Curtin University On July 23, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took the unprecedented step and declared the monkeypox outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” – the highest global alert level for a disease outbreak. Following this and with 45 cases in Australia, Chief Medical…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 28 July 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…
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The CODE COVID-19 International Update, 21 July 2022
Dr Priscilla Robinson The Code COVID19 International Update is a weekly snapshot of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing efforts by nations around the world to test, track and fight the virus. It’s compiled by Dr Priscilla Robinson, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University, and an editor…