Compared to ten similar countries, Australia does well on equity and health care outcomes. But it still has a way to go on access and how well the health system fits together.
To get to stage C of the plan out of COVID, 80% of adults over 16 need to be vaccinated. But that equates to just under 65% of all Australians – too low to safely open international borders.
If we open up the international borders before enough of the population is vaccinated, hospitals could become overwhelmed and deaths would be unacceptably high.
Both sex and gender analysis are crucial to health research to enable access to appropriate health information, diagnoses and care for gender-diverse populations.
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Sex is not gender but research continues to treat these as the same concept, with potentially damaging consequences for health studies, health policies and health programs.
Medical breakthroughs like the COVID-19 vaccines need to be matched with programs that tackle health inequality.
John Cherry/Stringer via Getty
With enough vaccine supplies coming online from October, the government has no excuse not to have all arrangements in place for an efficient vaccination program. Here’s what needs to change.
A sustainable private health insurance system requires enough young, healthy people paying premiums and not making claims. But government policies haven’t achieved this. Here’s what to try instead.
Unequal access to preventive resources such as healthy foods, a family doctor, health screening and health promotion programs put some groups at increased risk for chronic illness.
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While the pandemic has focused the world’s attention on how to prevent infectious disease, many of the lessons learned from COVID-19 prevention can also be applied to chronic disease prevention.
Independent assessments were meant to make access to the NDIS fairer. But disability groups disagree and want them stopped.
Activists wave flags in front of the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass cannabis reform legislation on Oct. 8, 2019.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
A cannabis decriminalization bill approved by the House is a sign from Congress that sentiment around the drug is evolving, but it misses a chance to regulate marijuana for the good of all Americans.
Most of these initiatives still place emphasis on getting people to change their eating and lifestyle habits.
Africa Studio/ Shutterstock
Now the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has been scrapped, there’s a real chance for health to remain on the national agenda. But let’s not repeat mistakes of the past.
Nurses and other health care workers in New York mourned colleagues who have died during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images
Why one city suffers significantly more deaths than another isn’t always obvious. A simple experiment shows how failing to consider certain factors can point policy makers in the wrong direction.
Elective surgeries have been halted as part of the health system’s response to coronavirus. But many are unnecessary and shouldn’t be rescheduled after the pandemic ends.
Indonesian religious leaders have a big role to play in times of crisis.
The Indonesian Communications and Information Ministry
As a nation with a strong religious sentiment, Indonesia could rely on its religious leaders to be more involved in communicating messages about the crisis.
A taxi rank marshal sprays hand sanitiser on a commuter wearing a mask as a preventive measure as she arrives at the Wanderers taxi rank in Johannesburg.
Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
Reactions in South Africa give little reason for hope that the virus will bring people closer together or trigger more energetic action against poverty.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne