Fifty-five women contracted hepatitis C after having abortions in Melbourne between 2008 and 2009. James Latham Peters, an anaesthetist with a drug dependence, has been prosecuted in Victoria for infecting…
After months of battle between the Commonwealth and Victorian governments on hospital funding, Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek dramatically intervened last Wednesday by announcing a A$107 million…
Yesterday marked the beginning of DonateLife Week, in which Australia’s Organ and Tissue Authority ramps up efforts to promote organ and tissue donation with a week-long media blitz and program of public…
The latest round of the health blame game is in full swing, with service cuts to Victorian hospitals, and neither the state nor federal government taking responsibility. Commonwealth and Victorian health…
There was a time when health policy involved intense ideological conflict along partisan lines. In the 1940s, the Chifley government fought all the way to a constitutional referendum to introduce subsidies…
As Victorian hospitals have announced bed closures, job losses and elective surgery delays over the past six weeks, cuts to health service budgets look set to significantly affect patient care in the state…
Almost two hundred medical students from diverse countries have just finished their medical education as full-fee-paying students. They’re now looking for the one year of employment (internship) they need…
You’ve probably given little thought to the slip of paper your GP hands you when she sends you off for a blood test. After all, you’re likely to have more important things to worry about. But the next…
Data released recently by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the nation’s health care bill is rising rapidly, from $77.5 billion in 2000-2001 to $130 billion in 2010-11. The largest increases…
Queensland appears intent on dismantling its public and preventive health services. Health Minister Lawrence Springborg last week outlined the rationale for getting rid of more than 150 jobs in nutrition…
The earthquake in the Northern Italian town of Medolla this May devastated the local community, killing 17 people and leaving 14,000 homeless. Because Medolla is the manufacturing epicentre of the Italian…
In health care, communication can be a matter of life or death. Take the case of an American woman diagnosed with a blood clot in her leg. She died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism the following day, while…
There’s no doubt that obesity has received considerable political attention over the past decade. But data recently released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows Australians are losing…
The Commonwealth’s government’s $4bn Dental Reform package, announced last week, promises to address many current inequities in access to dental care. It has been praised for its potential to reduce dental…
Terry Flynn, University of Technology Sydney and Joffre Swait, University of Technology Sydney
Health-care reform in industrialised countries is usually motivated by ageing populations, shaky economic conditions and shifting demographics. Health budgets are finite, so decisions must be made about…
This is a story about two small Aboriginal communities in the Gulf region of North Queensland: Mornington Island and Doomadgee. They share two key characteristics with many other remote communities: very…
Australia is facing an epidemic of chronic lifestyle-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and chronic lung disease. We have many treatments for these that aren’t necessarily…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne