Items with category:Uncategorized
Australia’s Stronger Rural Health Strategy fails to address the Doctor Drought
Australia’s rural and remote communities face significant healthcare disadvantage when compared to major cities. Critical workforce shortages, inaccessibility to healthcare services, and increased rates of risk-taking behaviours are all major contributors to this health inequity. In an attempt to address this issue, the Department of Health introduced the Stronger Rural Health Strategy with the aim […]
Voluntary Assisted Dying in Rural and Remote Victoria – Reflections on the first 4 years of the Act
June 2023 marks 4 years since the implementation of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) in Victoria. It also marks the start of a Parliamentary review into Victoria’s VAD Act, providing an opportunity for reflection on the first 4 years of the Act. The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (Vic) allows terminally ill patients, who meet a […]
Shining a Light on Sun, Skin and Safety: Protecting Yourself from Skin Cancer
G’day. Skin cancer is something that affects a lot of Aussies, especially those living outside of major cities. Talking about skin and cancer may not sound like the most exciting topic, but, it’s super important. Is that itchy mole bothering you? How about that new lesion that’s popped up out of nowhere? Well, there’s a […]
Trekking for treatment: The step too far that we ask of those living with cancer in rural areas
Cancer incidence is on the rise with new estimates showing that 2 in 5 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer by age 85. Patients who live in regional, rural, and remote areas face an additional cancer battle accessing quality and timely healthcare. Whilst completing my 2022 medical studies in Western Victoria, I met many patients […]
What can we learn from Healthy Islands?
Francis Lusem, a member of the Healthy Sianios and Samo Villages project in Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. Francis helped his community transform the land behind him from a swamp to a healthier setting. In the Pacific, the concept of Healthy Islands is enshrined in the Yanuca Island Declaration (1995) that […]
Making Healthier Food Choices Part 2 – Stop Signs
Australian consumers need clearer and more effective guidance for choosing healthy foods. In the context of national guidelines promoting wellbeing through food, physical activity and mental health, and to protect Chileans, and particularly children, from a growing supply of processed and ultra-processed food and beverages, Chile’s Ministry of Health (MOH) introduced front-of-package warning labels […]
How do I have a conversation with a patient about their weight?
Did you know 2 out of 3 Australian’s live with overweight or obesity and that 2 out of 3 of these Australian’s would like their health practitioner to initiate a conversation about weight? In such a conversation, general practitioners (GP’s) can use words and phrases that engage patients in weight loss interventions, even in the […]
Championing Nutrition in Medical Education
We are facing a double burden of malnutrition – a large proportion of the worlds’ population are overweight or obese and yet others struggle to get enough food. Non-communicable diseases are now the leading cause of death worldwide and numbers are increasing. Knowledge of and access to healthy food is critical for reducing this global burden. […]
Making Healthier Food Choices Part One – Stars
Australia’s health star rating (HSR) system has been in place since 2014 but 73% of stakeholders who provided feedback for the 5-year review said that it has been ineffective at meeting the overall objective of ‘providing convenient, relevant and readily understood nutrition information and/or guidance on food packs to assist consumers to make informed food […]