Category: Political Economy of Health
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Discerning discussion at ‘Design principles of an Australian CDC’ webinar
Melanie Parker – PHAA With a 50/50 chance of an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) being formed after the federal election on 21 May, discussing the scope and structure of this centre was key to PHAA’s webinar on 11 April 2022. Presenters are leading figures at their respective…
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An opportunity squandered: Budget 2022 fails to invest in lauded National Preventive Health Strategy
Terry Slevin – PHAA CEO What if Australia invested in Preventive Health? A reflection on the 2022 Budget If well researched strategies for preventive and public health stated in the 2021-2030 National Preventive Health Strategy were to be given credence, and be implemented, it would have been reflected through…
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Advocating for Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems in Australia – taking a holistic approach
Kate Sievert, Cherie Russell, and Sarah Dickie – Healthy Food Systems Australia Australia’s dominant food system provides access to a wide range of safe foods in a relatively secure manner. However, it is also a major contributor to chronic disease risk and environmental degradation. Our food supply encourages the…
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Fighting for food regulation reform and social mobilisation for wicked problems: Food Futures Conference 2022
PHAA Featuring international food and nutrition experts, and prominent Australian public figures, the final day of the Food Futures Conference 2022 was action-packed. Panel Session – The future of food regulation in Australia and New Zealand Emeritus Prof Murray Skeaff of @otago is speaking on food regulation system modernisation. #FoodFutures2022…
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Two years into the pandemic, unequal access to COVID-19 treatments threatens the global recovery
Deborah Gleeson, La Trobe University and Brigitte Tenni, The University of Melbourne It’s now two years since the World Health Organization began calling the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Two years ago, it was unclear whether it would even be possible to develop an effective vaccine or treatment for the novel…
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Under-resourced and undermined: as floods hit south-west Sydney, our research shows councils aren’t prepared
Nicky Morrison, Western Sydney University and Patrick Harris, UNSW Sydney Thousands of people in south-western Sydney have been ordered to evacuate as extreme rain pummels the region and floodwaters rise rapidly. The downpour is expected to continue for days. This region, particularly Western Sydney, is no stranger to climate-related disasters.…
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South Australian Public Health Consortium State Election Forum: A summary
Melanie Parker, Mary Brushe and Professor Jacquie Bowden – PHAA Almost 100 people joined the South Australian Public Health Consortium‘s Virtual Forum on 23 February to hear political parties’ public health priorities ahead of the upcoming state election. The Consortium comprises the SA branch of Public Health Association of Australia,…
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Where will the 2022-23 Budget take us?
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin – PHAA CEO This post is the first in our series of articles exploring the PHAA’s 2022-23 pre-Budget submission, The Public Health Crisis Budget. Future articles will include levies on harmful products including tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages. With polls showing the federal Government is a…
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New report justifies long overdue safety measures for quad bikes in Australia
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA It’s been another shocking summer for drownings across Australia. Royal Life Saving Australia tallied 79 drowning deaths (as of 31 January 2022), compared to 69 at this time last year. While the media focuses on drowning deaths every summer, other high-risk activities largely go unnoticed. A…
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Former PHAA Queensland President, Letitia Del Fabbro, to run in federal election
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA As regular readers of Intouch are aware, the PHAA is using the upcoming federal election as an opportunity to campaign for, among other things, a significantly bigger slice of the budget pie for public health. Fascinatingly, the first of our public health workforce profiles for 2022…
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Hundreds join the rally cry for greater investment in Australia’s public health workforce
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA In one of the biggest demonstrations of support for significant new investment in Australia’s over-stretched public health workforce, well over 500 people registered for an online symposium on 7 December 2021. The symposium brought together many of Australia’s leading public health experts in the field. Victoria’s…
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US support for waiving COVID vaccine intellectual property is a huge step. Australia must follow
Deborah Gleeson, La Trobe University Yesterday, the US Biden administration declared its support for waiving intellectual property rights, including patents, for COVID-19 vaccines. This decision represents a huge breakthrough in discussions at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that have been deadlocked for more than six months. Shortly afterwards, New Zealand’s…
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Covid-19 Vaccines: Ethics and Who is “Us”
Terry Slevin A pandemic is not a competition between companies, but a race between humanity and a virus. (Nature editorial, 30 March 2021) The Covid-19 vaccination program is the dominant health and political news story of the last few months. It is also becoming an ethical discussion of the difference…
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Over 700 health experts are calling for urgent action to expand global production of COVID vaccines
Deborah Gleeson, La Trobe University and Michael Toole, Burnet Institute Today, we are joining over 700 health professionals and academics in sending an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging him to take a leadership role in expanding the global production of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical tools to…
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In the lead into Easter….it’s time for a deep breath
Terry Slevin, PHAA CEO We’ve made our way through the unforgettable 2020. We’re coming out the other side and have coped with the many adjustments and trials of quarter one, 2021. Vaccination programs have dominated the news and the expectations that have been created haven’t been delivered. Frustrations have been…
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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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The Public Health need to ‘Raise the Rate’
Dr Ingrid Johnston Having a healthy population is good for the country. Being unwell reduces productivity and increases costs to the health system. As health costs spiral with an ageing population, making public policy decisions that will inevitably and unnecessarily add to those costs is a bad option. But we…
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Australia urged to support proposal to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 medical products
Deborah Gleeson, Belinda Townsend and David Legge Australian officials will meet with other governments at the World Trade Organization this week to consider a proposal to waive intellectual property on COVID-19 medical products. If supported, the proposal could remove some of the barriers to affordable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments…
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Last to know: the European Union knows more about our trade talks than we do
In the negotiations for an Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement at present underway, the European Union is pushing for longer monopolies on medicines for its pharmaceutical companies.