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Collaboration key to tackling public health issues

Media Release from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth)

Monday 3 April 2017

Media Contact: Rachel Murphy Senior Media Advisor, 03 9667 1319 /0435 761 732, rmurphy@vichealth.vic.gov.au

Collaboration key to tackling public health issues

vichealth VicHealth’s Sustainable Development Goals Partnership grants aim to foster collaboration between Victorian and international partners to explore how social and environmental issues such as climate change, ageing populations and the exponential growth of technology will affect our health over the next two decades.

VicHealth CEO Jerril Rechter announced the funding during the first plenary session of the 15th World Congress on Public Health 3–7 April. The Congress brings together leading international public health experts in Melbourne to share learnings from around the world.

Ms Rechter said VicHealth welcomed the opportunity to facilitate partnerships between leading global experts to tackle critical public health issues such as obesity, gender equality and mental wellbeing.  [Read more…] about Collaboration key to tackling public health issues

Providing abortion by telehealth: The first 1000 medical abortions safe and effective

Media release from the Tabbot Foundation

tabbot 3 April 2017

Associate Professor Suzanne Belton says, ‘Telehealth abortions with tablets are a safe and effective way for Australian women to seek a termination of pregnancy.’

‘It is a low-risk procedure. Very few women needed extra support at a hospital for assistance with bleeding or additional pain relief.’

‘Women can use a telephone medical abortion service to speak with doctors and nurses to get information, tests and medications. So far more than 1000 women have used the service which is very affordable, since September 2015.’ [Read more…] about Providing abortion by telehealth: The first 1000 medical abortions safe and effective

Public Health Congress: Monday daily wrap up

  • CT scans have raised kids’ cancer risks congress

  • Sex after 65: sexual activity and physical tenderness are important to healthy ageing

  • Are celebrities bad for your health? Just 12 per cent of star endorsements are for healthy choices

  • Your phone could be telling you to eat more veggies

  • Public health – enemies of the people?

Stories from the 15th World Congress on Public Health
Monday 3 April 2017, Melbourne Convention Centre

@wcph2017 #wcph2017

 

More at www.wcph2017.com/media.php and @wcph2017 on Twitter.
Contact Niall on 0417-131-977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or Tanya on 0404-083-863 for interviews [Read more…] about Public Health Congress: Monday daily wrap up

Public Health on Monday

congress

  • Public health – enemies of the people?

  • Poor need not = unhealthy, making the world fairer through policies on eating, chronic disease and trade

  • How to eliminate HIV and hepatitis B and C by 2030

  • Is President Trump’s stand on free trade agreements good for public health

  • We’re getting fatter and sicker

  • Self-governance and health for Indigenous peoples

Monday 3 April 2017, Melbourne Convention Centre
Researchers at the 15th World Congress on Public Health available for interview from Monday 3 April

More at www.wcph2017.com/media.php and @wcph2017 on Twitter.
Contact Niall on 0417-131-977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or Tanya on 0404-083-863 for interviews

[Read more…] about Public Health on Monday

WANTED: Science Communicator/Project Manager

We’re looking for an experienced science communicator to join our team at Science in Public, someone:

  • who has developed and delivered communication strategies and understands what it takes to make science news
  • who loves science and loves working with scientists to get their work into the public space
  • who knows who’s who and can list at least ten national science agencies. The more knowledge you have of the science world in Australia the better
  • who can hold their own in a discussion about Oxford commas and CMYK numbers.

You must be able to write fluently and accurately, manage a number of projects at once, and work to tight deadlines. A solid grounding in WordPress, Twitter and MailChimp would also be useful.

The position is full-time or near full-time. Pay will be negotiated based on experience and hours can be negotiated to be family-friendly.

If you are interested, please send me a short email summarising:

  • your mix of skills (media, outreach, project management, writing etc.)
  • your experience in science communication and /or media liaison
  • what you want to get out of the role
  • examples of your writing and/or media stories that you have been involved in clearly stating your contribution.

Science in Public is a specialist science communication business based in Spotswood, Melbourne. We have a core team of six plus associates around the country. We work with governments, universities, research institutes and individual scientists to help them present their work in public. You can read more about us and our work at www.scienceinpublic.com.au.

If you have any questions, you can give Sarah Brooker a call on 0413 332 489. Otherwise, email your one-pager addressing the above and a CV to sarah@scienceinpublic.com.au by lunchtime Friday 7 April.

4,000 lives lost each day: ending the TB death toll

Tuberculosis (TB) is treatable and preventable. So why does it still kill more than 4,000 people each day? And what do we need to do to end the epidemic by 2030? We need to talk about solutions on World TB Day, Friday 24 March 2017.

Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in Australian 130 years ago. Rates have plummeted since then, from 1,200 per million to four per million for males and from 900 to two per million for females, thanks to better living conditions, antibiotics, TB sanatoriums, immunisation and better screening.

Globally, we’re gaining ground in the fight to end TB:

  • Between 2000 and 2013, TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment programs saved an estimated 37 million lives.
  • The TB mortality rate fell by 45 per cent and the prevalence rate by 41 per cent from 1990 to 2013.

tb TB can lie dormant and undetected for months. But a weakened immune system leads to infectious ‘active’ TB, with fever, coughing up blood, and weight loss, the last of which gave the condition its historical name, ‘the consumption’. It’s a far cry from the Hollywood or BBC versions of TB, such as Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! elegantly dying while singing ‘Come what may’.  [Read more…] about 4,000 lives lost each day: ending the TB death toll

Celebrating longer, healthier lives on International Women’s Day

What is saving and taking women’s lives in 2017?

The global average life expectancy for a girl born today is about 74 years. That’s 20 years more than women born in 1960.

An Australian girl born today can expect to live to 84 years. She’s gained a decade since 1960. Life expectancy for our Nepalese sisters has doubled from 35 to 71 years.

Around the world there’s been a remarkable transformation in the human condition. It’s come from a host of public achievements, including the following:

  • Improvements in living conditions in the early 20th century—better water supplies, sewerage systems, food quality and health education, have led to overall lower death rates and longer life expectancy at all ages.
  • In Australia, childbirth is 10 times safer for babies, and in USA, childbirth is 100 times safer for the mums than it was 100 years ago.
  • In Australia, we’ve seen a 95 per cent decrease in death rate for children aged zero to four years (including infants).
  • We’ve seen an 80 per cent reduction in cervical and uterine cancer mortality.
  • We have universal education for all children with no discrimination towards girls achieving their goals.
  • The protection of human rights of women and girls are improving, though we have more to do.
  • Women are less likely to die of breast cancer thanks to screening and improved treatments.

[Read more…] about Celebrating longer, healthier lives on International Women’s Day

  Melbourne hosts the world’s largest 3D printer—and it’s open for business

The biggest powder bed 3D printed metal aerospace component is on display at the Melbourne International Airshow at Avalon.

  • Press release below, and background information here.
  • Photos and video here
Barrie Finnin, CEO of Amaero, with a hand on the 3D printed door hinge from a Chinese jet airliner
Barrie Finnin, CEO of Amaero, with a hand on the 3D printed door hinge from a Chinese jet airliner

Monash University has commissioned the world’s largest metal printer, and has used it to print a large door hinge from a Chinese jet airliner. The aluminium hinge weighs 11 kg and is 40 by 80 by 39 cm in size. It is the largest powder bed 3D printed metal aerospace component printed to date.

The $3.5 million Xline 2000R printer acquired by Monash University is one of five made to date by German manufacturer Concept Laser. It’s the only one outside America and Europe, the only one based in a university and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere available for contract manufacturing.

[Read more…] about   Melbourne hosts the world’s largest 3D printer—and it’s open for business

The world’s largest 3D printer media kit – supporting materials

[Read more…] about The world’s largest 3D printer media kit – supporting materials

Grants help more Australians celebrate National Science Week

Media release from Senator the Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science

9 FEBRUARY 2017

Pop-up science festivals, an astronomical observatory on wheels, and Future Earth innovations are among 39 projects sharing in $500,000 in National Science Week grants.

I want to congratulate the successful grant recipients for their efforts to inspire people about science, technology and innovation.

National Science Week gives people in metropolitan, regional and remote areas opportunities to meet scientists, discuss hot topics and celebrate the contribution of Australian science to society, culture and economy.  [Read more…] about Grants help more Australians celebrate National Science Week