Tag: Women’s health
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Taking migrant women’s health context into account
Zohra Lassi, Negin Mirzaei Damabi, Abela Mahimbo Since 1945, Australia has welcomed close to a million refugees. However, when a pregnant refugee woman walks into a hospital, her experience rarely leaves a trace in our health records. Her name might appear on a patient chart, but her migration background, language,…
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Women from diverse backgrounds must lead and shape research
Negin Mirzaei Damabi, Zahra Ali Padhani, Patience Castleton, and Zohra Lassi Women continue to be underrepresented in STEM occupations. In Australia, women made up just 15% of STEM-qualified roles in 2023. While their presence in these fields has grown by 76% over the past decade, the gender gap remains stark.…
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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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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…
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Australian women’s access to abortion is a postcode lottery. Here’s what needs to change
Danielle Mazza, Monash University When the American legal precedent protecting women’s right to an abortion in the United States, Roe versus Wade, was overturned last year, women around the world felt anxious. In Australia, despite abortion being legal, there was increasing concern about women’s ability to access abortion. This led…
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‘I take it with a pinch of salt’: why women question health warnings linking alcohol with breast cancer
Belinda Lunnay, Torrens University Australia; Paul Ward, Torrens University Australia, and Samantha Meyer, University of Waterloo Up to one in ten cases of breast cancer in Australia is linked to drinking alcohol. Midlife women are already at increased risk for breast cancer because of their age, and tend to drink…
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Menopause, mental health, and sexual violence highlighted during Women’s Health Week
Danielle Gavanescu, Master of Public Health student and former PHAA Intern Women’s Health Week 2022, run from 5-11 September, is the biggest week in Australia dedicated to the health of women, girls, and gender diverse people. The campaign run by Jean Hailes features many events and online activities designed to promote…
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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…
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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,…
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As Netball Australia eyes betting sponsorship, women and girls are at increased risk of gambling harm
Samantha Thomas, Deakin University; Hannah Pitt, Deakin University, and Simone McCarthy, Deakin University Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan said last week she would consider accepting gambling sponsorship to help with Netball Australia’s debts. Gambling sponsorships were “lucrative” for sports, she reasoned, adding netball had to “put itself a little bit…
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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…
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Dr Abela Mahimbo brings expertise in refugee and migrant health to Women’s Health Special Interest Group Co-Convenor role
PHAA The PHAA Women’s Health Special Interest Group (SIG) has been previously led by women’s public health experts including Professor Angela Dawson, Dr Geraldine Vaughan, and Pip Buckingham. They have passed the baton to new co-convenors Dr Abela Mahimbo and Dr Amie Steel for 2022. In the second of our…
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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.…
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‘One of the pandemics we haven’t talked about is the pandemic of ageism,’ says Prof Julie Byles AO
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA Introduction We continue our series celebrating the achievements of leading lights in Australia’s public health networks who’ve been deservedly recognised in the 2022 Australia Day Honours. Today we meet Professor Julie Byles AO. Julie was honoured as an Officer in the Order of Australia ‘for her…
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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,…
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New study proves laughter is the best medicine
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA Given the world remains in the vice-like grip of this once-in-a-century pandemic, and the start of 2022 sees no end to the COVID-chaos, maintaining a sense of humour hasn’t been easy. Research released recently in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, titled A systematic…