Tag: maternal health
-
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…
-
A call to action for women’s health
Dr Keeth Mayakaduwage Receiving the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) Emerging Leader Award at the Australian Public Health Conference was an incredible honour and a milestone in my career as a public health advocate. This recognition not only affirms the importance of my work but amplifies the urgent need…
-
Australia urgently needs better preconception health support
Amie Steel, Edwina Dorney, Jacqueline Boyle Most people know that smoking and drinking alcohol during pregnancy is not ideal. But very few know just how important it is for both parents to maintain healthy behaviours, not only during pregnancy, but in the weeks or months beforehand. The health of both…
-
Roe vs. Wade and the recent overturn of the 50-year-old ruling by the US Supreme Court
Professor Jaya Dantas and Dr Claire Rogers Co- Convenors, PHAA International Health Special Interest Group On the 24 June 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States stripped women, and girls of existing legal protections necessary to determine the course of their lives. Legal protections for abortion access and…
-
Reproductive Freedom Needs Continual Defence
Dr Abela Mahimbo and Dr Amie Steel PHAA’s Women’s Health Special Interest Group convenors The Australian public health community is outraged at the decisions of US state legislatures to deny women’s reproductive control over their lives. On Friday the US Supreme Court, by a 5-4 majority of conservative judges,…
-
First Nations mothers are more likely to die during childbirth. More First Nations midwives could close this gap
Pamela McCalman, La Trobe University; Catherine Chamberlain, The University of Melbourne, and Machellee Kosiak, Australian Catholic University While Australia is one of the safest places in the world to give birth, First Nations women are three times more likely to die in childbirth than other Australian women (17.5 vs 5.5…
-
The potential global effects if Roe v. Wade is overturned
Professor Jaya Dantas, Dr Claire Rogers, Dr Abela Mahimbo, and Professor Angela Taft Recently, United States (US) political news outlet Politico published a leaked draft of a Supreme Court majority decision that would explicitly overturn Roe v. Wade and with it, 50 years of the Supreme Court’s legal precedent…
-
Survey reveals new Aussie mums are tired but generally coping okay during pandemic peaks
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA COVID-19 seems to have thrown everything at us. In Australia, this includes both ‘baby busts’ and ‘baby booms’. A new, Australian-first study, released in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health has shed light on how new mums coped with the challenges of motherhood during a global pandemic.…
-
A Q&A with Dr Amie Steel, one of two new Women’s Health Special Interest Group Co-Convenors
PHAA The PHAA Women’s Health Special Interest Group (SIG) has historically been one of our most active SIGs, with past Co-Convenors including women’s public health experts like Professor Angela Dawson, Dr Geraldine Vaughan, and Pip Buckingham. In the first of a Q&A blog series on new 2022 PHAA SIG convenors,…
-
The $55 billion formula industry – violating international commitments
Dr Mary-Anne Land – PHAA Forty years ago, the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (the Code) to regulate the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, and protect mothers from aggressive marketing practices. Yet forty years on, formula marketing still represents one of the most underappreciated…
-
Addressing Inequalities in Access to Quality Maternal and Child Health Services in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors – Firew Bobo (PhD Candidate, University of Technology Sydney, UTS); Professor Andrew Hayen, (UTS); Professor Angela Dawson; (UTS) How long people live dramatically varies depending on socioeconomic status, education levels, place of birth, and country of residence. Higher levels of illness and premature mortality are more common among the…
-
Better ways to prevent obesity and tooth decay in early childhood
Dr Narendar Manohar (Western Sydney University), Professor Andrew Hayen (University of Technology Sydney), Associate Professor Amit Arora (Western Sydney University) At school entry age, around 40% of Australian children already have tooth decay and around a quarter are overweight or obese. Both these conditions have a significant negative impact on…