Call for targeted ear screening as research shows 1 in 10 disadvantaged children have hearing loss

Media release: 2 December 2021

Ear health experts are calling for targeted screening programs in children during their critical learning years, as new research shows high rates of hearing loss in children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The research is published in Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, in a special issue focused on hearing loss. The researchers at Macquarie University, Sydney, analysed screening results over a three-year period of 2489 NSW children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. They found that the children, whose median age was 11, had high rates of hearing loss and middle ear dysfunction, with more than 40% not passing the hearing screening assessment.

Overall, 11.5% of children had hearing loss, while nearly 30% presented with middle ear dysfunction. Younger children were more likely to present with middle ear dysfunction, which was also more prevalent in colder months, probably due to respiratory infections. Aboriginal children and those from a migrant background were no more likely to be identified with hearing or ear problems in the screening assessment compared with other children.

Even mild hearing loss, which may be undetectable to parents and carers, can lead to poorer outcomes, the authors say.

“Throughout a child’s early years, undetected hearing loss during the critical period of neurocognitive development can have significant consequences for their speech and language development, educational achievement, and neurocognitive and social–emotional growth,” they write.

In socio-economically disadvantaged children, middle ear disease such as otitis media is more prevalent, while access to primary healthcare is poorer and educational supports are more limited, the authors say. At the same time, the classroom disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic may further widen the gap in educational outcomes in the future, they add.

Currently, there are no national school screening programs for middle ear disease and hearing loss in Australia. Although the cost-effectiveness of rolling out such programs remains debatable, there are opportunities for targeted screening in at-risk populations, the authors write.

“Targeted screening programs can identify hearing loss during critical learning years, mitigating longer-term educational, social and mental health outcomes.”

But for such programs to be effective, a robust pathway to care must exist so that children with ear and hearing problems get the support they need, the authors say.

The paper is published in a special issue of Public Health Research & Practice on the theme of hearing loss and public health, produced in partnership with Soundfair, Macquarie University’s HEAR Centre and Macquarie University Hearing. Another highlight in this issue is a paper calling for urgent health measures to address growing age-related hearing loss in the community. The authors from UNSW Sydney say that while the number of people with at least mild hearing loss is projected to double by 2060, at least a third of adult-acquired hearing loss is preventable. A broad public health strategy is urgently needed to reduce long-term disability due to hearing loss, the authors write.

Another paper reports that parents and carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children encounter major difficulties obtaining a diagnosis and treatment for chronic otitis media and hearing problems in young children, with guideline-recommended ear checks not carried out routinely.

And a paper on navigating the health system from a Deaf perspective finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided valuable lessons for communicating with the deaf and hard-of-hearing, particularly when people are wearing face masks.

In an editorial, the issue’s guest editors from Soundfair and Macquarie University call for a National Action Plan to address health inequities engendered by a society that “disables and stigmatises hearing loss”.

They note that change will only be accomplished through “collective action, authentic listening and engagement with those with hearing loss or deafness, and government and sector support”.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute
M: 0451 122 146   
E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, Editor, PHRP
M: 0408 331 262   
E: [email protected]

Megan Howe December 2nd, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Less than 2% of global health funding being spent on investments in or research into health systems

Media release: 10 November 2021

National governments and global funders are failing to invest sufficiently in strengthening health systems, despite shortcomings exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, experts argue in a series of papers published today.

A special issue of Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the state of funding for health policy and systems research (HPSR), covering more than 50 countries, regions and territories across the globe. The edition has been prepared in collaboration with the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, an international partnership hosted by the World Health Organization.

Emerging in the mid-nineties, HPSR seeks to understand and enhance the relationship between health policy and health systems to improve health and is essential for developing strong and equitable health systems.

One paper from Professor David Stuckler, of Bocconi University in Milan, and colleagues finds that less than two cents of every dollar in total global health funding is being spent on wider investment in or research into health systems. They note that, just like the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there has been more of a focus on developing technologies and medical solutions than on the structures, skills and resources required to make these solutions available to those who need them most.

But history doesn’t have to repeat itself, the authors say. “The price of inaction on strengthening health systems to address HIV was staggering. And although we can’t set those past mistakes to right, we can honour the legacy of those who suffered and prevent the same mistakes from happening again,” they write.

They add that “the political window of opportunity could not open any wider” to mobilise resources and partners to strengthen our health systems and address the shortcomings of the global COVID-19 response, where the emphasis on developing vaccines has overshadowed investment in the health systems that can deliver them.

Another paper in this issue tackles the ‘invisibility’ of funding for HPSR in low- to middle-income countries. It finds that while it is almost impossible to reliably estimate HPSR funding in most countries under study, health research funding in general prioritises biomedical and clinical research over HPSR. Recommendations in this paper include creating mechanisms to ensure funds are allocated to HPSR, creating a database to track HPSR funding and advocating for the value-add of HPSR.

In the editorial in this issue, Professor Vivian Lin of the University of Hong Kong and colleagues agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the need for stronger health systems and the context-relevant knowledge that HPSR can provide.

Several factors are at play in the underfunding of HPSR, they write. One is the over-medicalisation of health research, in part due to the pharmaceutical industry’s emphasis on disease-oriented rather than prevention-oriented healthcare. Another is the issue of randomised controlled trials as the gold standards in health research. However, health policy and health system reforms are classic ‘wicked problems’ that deal with complex and interconnected systems, the editorialists argue.

“Now is the time, as the world comes to terms with COVID-19, for HPSR proponents to seize the opportunities provided by increased political and public attention to health policies and systems,” they write.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe November 10th, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Cutting cataract surgery wait times would prevent thousands of falls while also saving money, research finds

Media release: 27 October 2021

Waiting times for cataract surgery in the public health system can be as long as two and a half years in some parts of Australia, but cutting waits to just three months would significantly reduce the number of avoidable falls while also saving public money, according to a new analysis published today.

The authors of the paper, published in Public Health Research & Practice, a journal of the Sax Institute, conducted an analysis to estimate government costs and outcomes associated with different waiting times for cataract surgery. They found that if the wait for surgery was capped at three months, over a three-year period it would result in 50,679 fewer falls, which can have devastating and even fatal consequences for older people. Avoiding the cost of treating those falls would save around $20m, resulting in an overall cost saving of $6.6 million, once the costs of bringing forward surgeries were included.

The researchers from UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney and University of Melbourne report that while wait times for cataract surgery vary greatly across Australia, official waiting time statistics do not capture what the authors call “the wait for the wait”, or the time it takes after diagnosis to get on the official public hospital elective surgery waitlist. They calculate that overall, in the best-case scenario, a patient could have surgery only four months after diagnosis, but in the worst-case scenario, the wait would be 30 months. These estimates do not include the extra waits created by the COVID-related elective surgery pause.

The comparative analysis in the paper, funded by Vision 2020 Australia, considered the impact of reduced waiting times on the estimated direct hospital costs for bilateral cataract surgery, as well as the costs of pre- and post-operative assessments and indirect hospital costs associated with treating fall- and motor vehicle crash–related injuries.

The authors say the $6.6 million cost saving is “likely to be an underestimate” as it does not account for longer-term costs to society and individuals from falls and motor vehicle crashes, including loss of life, disability care, loss of income, legal system costs, property damage and reduced quality of life.

Nearly a quarter of a million people are living with visually significant cataracts in Australia, the authors estimate based on data from the 2016 National Eye Health Survey. Cataract is a leading cause of vision loss, affecting 20% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 40 and over, and 14% of non-Indigenous people aged 50 and over. It significantly affects people’s ability to work, drive, and care for themselves and others.

Extended waits for treatment place patients at heightened risk of falls, car crashes and other ill effects, including social isolation. These risks are more commonly felt by the 30% of Australians who do not have private health insurance, cannot afford the out-of-pocket costs associated with private treatment and rely on public hospital services.

The authors call for greater investment in public cataract services, which could include the establishment of high-volume surgery services to increase capacity, as well as standardising referral and triage processes, fast-tracking of referrals when necessary, and prioritising surgery for Indigenous patients to reduce health inequities.

“Eliminating unnecessary delays to cataract surgery would not only lead to better outcomes for patients but also alleviate an economic burden on the health system,” the authors conclude.

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers. The link to the published article on cataract surgery waiting times will be: https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp31342116. This link can be included in news stories and will be active once the embargo lifts.

About the Sax Institute

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe October 27th, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Boom in home-delivered alcohol opens the door to underage drinking

Media release: 13 October 2021

A rapid expansion in online liquor delivery services is making it easier for minors to obtain alcohol, due to regulatory holes and non-compliance with legal requirements, say the authors of a study published today.

Reporting in Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, researchers from Northern Sydney Health Promotion say the number of online liquor licences in NSW increased five-fold from 2010 to 2018, reflecting a broader trend towards home delivery of alcohol that has only been further fuelled by the pandemic and associated lockdowns.

Their research looks at whether online alcohol delivery services operating during 2018 in NSW were compliant with regulations and adopted safeguards relating to underage access to alcohol. The authors found significant noncompliance among the 213 retailers they reviewed, and they call for tighter regulations both in NSW and in other Australian jurisdictions.

Included in the findings:

• 60% of services did not comply with the legal requirement to ensure purchasers provided their date of birth to confirm they were over 18.
• 15% of services did not mention on their website that it is illegal to sell, supply or obtain alcohol on behalf of someone under 18.
• Only 22% of services specified on their website that someone over 18 had to accept the delivery.

The authors also reviewed legal safeguards in NSW around underage access to alcohol, identifying several areas where the requirements were more ambiguous or less restrictive for holders of online liquor licences, compared with physical outlets such as bottle shops. The authors’ findings informed the drafting of new amendments to tighten controls around same-day alcohol delivery, which came into force in NSW earlier this year. These include prohibition of same-day deliveries being left unattended; mandating age verification at both the point of purchase and delivery; and requiring all same-day delivery drivers to undertake responsible delivery of alcohol training.

However, the authors say there remain serious gaps in the legal safeguards preventing minors from ordering alcohol online, particularly as the new amendments only regulate same-day deliveries.

“A considerable risk of underage supply remains for any liquor order placed where delivery occurs on subsequent days,” the authors write.

“Evidence is emerging, internationally and nationally, that growth in online liquor licences has been accompanied by increased risk of supply to young people.”

They say the need for tighter regulation of online liquor supply extends well beyond NSW. They note that alcohol is one of Australia’s leading causes of drug-related death and was a contributing factor in 4,186 deaths in 2017.

Since 2015, the proportion of people in NSW aged 16 years or over drinking at levels posing long-term risk to health has been increasing, which has coincided with a spike in alcohol-attributable hospitalisations in NSW.

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers. The link to the published article on online liquor delivery services will be: https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp31342115. This link can be included in news stories and will be active once the embargo lifts.

About the Sax Institute

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

About Northern Sydney Health Promotion

Northern Sydney Health Promotion is part of Northern Sydney Local Health District. It implements health promotion projects and activities from the northern side of Sydney Harbour to the Hawkesbury River in the north (from the Harbour to the Hawkesbury) to help improve the health of the community.

Megan Howe October 13th, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Big Alcohol flouts its own rules on social media marketing to children

Media Release: 28 July 2021

Some of Australia’s largest alcohol companies are allowing children to access their marketing on popular social networking sites such as Instagram, contravening the industry’s own requirements, new research finds.

The study, published today in Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, is the first to examine the use of social media age-restriction controls by alcohol companies to prevent children accessing alcohol-related content in Australia – a requirement under the industry’s advertising code.

Looking at the official Instagram and Facebook accounts for 195 brands owned by the top beer, wine and spirit companies by market share in Australia, the study authors found 28% of the brands’ Instagram accounts and 5% of Facebook accounts had not activated age-restriction controls.

The authors say the high level of non-compliance on Instagram – a popular social media platform among teenagers – is of particular concern.

Instagram accounts advertising spirits were least compliant (32% lacking age-restriction controls), followed by wine brands (31%) and beer brands (21%). Only two of the nine companies studied were compliant across all their brand accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Previous research has shown that young people are at greater risk of alcohol-related harm than adults and alcohol use in teenagers can risk damage to the developing brain.

“Evidence suggests children and young people who engage with online alcohol marketing are more likely to drink alcohol and drink at risky levels,” says study co-author Julia Stafford, chair of the Cancer Council Alcohol Working Group.

“Digital advertising has presented a plethora of opportunities for alcohol companies to expand their reach, including through social media. As there are no compliance-monitoring mechanisms to make sure companies are following the rules, it raises questions about what children are actually seeing online.”

In Australia, alcohol advertising is covered by the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code, an industry-managed code which requires signatories – including all companies in the study – to activate age-restriction controls on social networking sites to prevent children from accessing alcohol marketing. But it is clear that the requirement is being ignored, says Ms Stafford.

“The alcohol industry has demonstrated that it is unable to effectively control its own marketing. Statutory government regulation, which includes an effective monitoring system, is the necessary step to ensure children’s exposure to alcohol advertising is minimised.”

Table — Instagram age-restriction non-compliance by alcohol companies

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our paper.

About the Sax Institute

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe July 28th, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Health impacts neglected in major infrastructure planning

Media Release: 9 June 2021

Health impacts of major transport projects are too often glossed over during the planning phases, allowing issues such as air and noise pollution, residents’ mental health and impact on children’s health to escape the scrutiny they deserve, according to the authors of a new paper published today.

With governments across Australia continuing to commit record sums to infrastructure funding, including numerous large road and rail transport projects, the authors say it is vital that approvals and review processes adequately consider health impacts while there is still time to address them.

The research, published in Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, looked at public submissions to a NSW parliamentary inquiry held in 2018 into the impact of Sydney’s WestConnex motorway project, Australia’s largest infrastructure project to date.

Health impacts were a key concern, with around two-thirds of individual submissions to the inquiry mentioning at least one health issue. The most cited were air pollution and children’s health, followed by mental health issues and noise pollution. In a sample of submissions from professional organisations, almost two-thirds raised issues about the cost of the project, including that health impacts were being underestimated and economic benefits overestimated in the cost-benefit analysis.

The study authors, from the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney, note that public health impacts of major infrastructure projects in NSW are considered separately and only near the end of the business case, in a document known as the environmental impact statement. Even then, the statement narrowly defines health impacts as those arising directly from the construction and operational phases of the project. This ignores the longer-term effects of noise and exhaust pollution along with issues of mental health and community wellbeing.

“It’s vital that we learn the lessons of WestConnex. The parliamentary inquiry we studied came after six years of planning, when construction had already started. And yet it uncovered huge public concern over health impacts. Clearly, the public was not consulted early enough,” says lead author Tom Robertson of the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health.

Senior author Dr Patrick Harris of the Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation at UNSW Sydney notes that we are currently in the middle of an infrastructure boom, with many projects at the assessment and planning phase.

“These projects will cost billions of dollars of public money and have significant health impacts, yet the public interest is not at the forefront of decision-making. The public’s concerns should be reflected at every step of the way, and not just as an afterthought,” he says.

“Parliamentary inquiries not only come too late in the process, they also lack teeth if the government blatantly refuses to implement their recommendations,” he adds.

The latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice also features an editorial on the National Preventive Health Strategy and what needs to happen next. Professor Ben Smith, of the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, says that the “remarkably prescient” policy document, currently in draft form, could bring about a rebalancing within Australia’s health system in the coming decade and catalyse greater investment in prevention.

Another paper finds that migrants in Western Sydney face significant challenges in managing type 2 diabetes, with cultural and social factors as well as the effects of experiences leading up to migration impacting on people’s management of chronic disease.

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice.

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

About the Sax Institute

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe June 9th, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Indigenous leaders call for an end to racism in the health system

Media Release: 10 March 2021

Deep-seated resistance to addressing institutional and systemic racism in our health system is thwarting progress towards improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, say Indigenous leaders in an important paper published today.

The authors of the Perspective, published in Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, write that institutional racism leads to a dismissal of Indigenous knowledges, worldviews and cultural practices that must be incorporated into healthcare provision if we are to close the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

“Our paper gives voice to Indigenous communities who have consistently said that racism is a critical issue in the provision of healthcare, as is the incorporation of culture into the design of healthcare services,” says lead author Dr Carmen Parter, Senior Research Fellow at the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland.

“When an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person accesses a healthcare service, there is always a level of mistrust and fear. A lot of people forget that our health system was one of the many institutions involved in the ‘Stolen Generation’ that took children from their families and communities – which still happens today. Those stories resonate through our communities.”

The paper’s authors say it is critical that healthcare provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples incorporates Indigenous worldviews, which can be very different to those of the Western medical establishment.

“Indigenous worldviews take into consideration not just treatment of the physical body but also spiritual, emotional, social and cultural dimensions such as connection to country and Indigenous identity. It’s very different to how the Western world works,” says Dr Parter.

“When Indigenous knowledges are incorporated into services and programs, research has shown that health outcomes are improved.

The paper outlines a model of practice where different knowledges and cultures can co-exist, which the authors say could be instrumental in closing the gap in life expectancy by 2031.

“Privileging Indigenous knowledges, cultures and voices must be front and centre in developing, designing and implementing policies and programs,” the authors write.

In addition to Dr Parter, the paper’s authors include Professor Tom Calma AO, Boe Rambaldini, Dr Josephine Gwynn and Dr John Skinner, all of the Poche Centre; Donna Murray, CEO of Indigenous Allied Health Australia; Janine Mohamed, CEO of the Lowitja Institute; Associate Professor Donna Hartz of the Molly Wardaguga Research Centre at Charles Darwin University; and Dr Shawn Wilson of the Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples at Southern Cross University.

Another paper in this issue reports on new Australian research into seasonal flu vaccination. It finds that government-funded programs providing free flu vaccines for children aged 6 months to 5 years  increased vaccination rates in infants by nearly five times in Australian jurisdictions that implemented them, as well as boosting vaccinations in older children who weren’t included in the funded programs.

Other papers find:

• Implementation science can play a pivotal role in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, as well as in the recovery from the disease
• Sustained partnerships and collaboration are key to communicating effectively to culturally and linguistically diverse communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice. Note that links will be live from 0001HRS Wednesday 10 March 2021. Please contact us (details below) if you would like to access the papers before this date.

MEDIA ENQURIES

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor
M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Hugo Wilcken, Sax Institute
M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

ABOUT THE SAX INSTITUTE

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe March 10th, 2021

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

COVID-19: new research reveals impacts to healthcare services

Media release: 9 December 2020.

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on the provision of health services in NSW, reducing activity across many areas in ways that could have longer-term consequences on people’s health, new research shows.

The study, published in the Sax Institute’s peer-reviewed journal Public Health Research & Practice, uses administrative data from multiple sources to look at the indirect effects of the pandemic on the NSW health system. It shows how the impact of COVID-19 has reached far beyond actual cases, dramatically altering healthcare-seeking behaviours in the population at the height of the first wave.

The number of breast screens conducted in the period from March to June 2020 dropped by over half compared with the same period in the previous year, the data revealed. Emergency department visits were down by 14%, ambulance incidents by 7% and face-to-face consultations with GPs were down by 22%.

The researchers even found a decrease in people presenting with medical emergencies such as stroke and heart attack.

“Earlier in the pandemic, there were sharp decreases in the number of people presenting to emergency departments. While some of these may be the result of reduction in high-risk activities, some could be related to delays in seeking diagnosis or treatment for life-threatening conditions and could have serious consequences,” said senior author Dr Jean-Frédéric Levesque, Chief Executive of the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation.

The study also tracked mental health presentations, which declined in April and May when lockdown restrictions were at their most severe, but then ticked up to above the rates of the previous year by June 2020. This uptick may reflect the deleterious effects of the pandemic, and associated restrictions, on mental health, the researchers said, including impacts on people already living with mental health conditions.

However, not all the indirect effects of the pandemic were detrimental: there were lower than usual rates of infectious respiratory diseases other than COVID-19 and also a sharp decrease in trauma-related injuries in March and April, due to the reduction in social and work activities during the lockdown period and increased focus on personal hygiene during the pandemic.

While healthcare activities had begun to recover by July, they still hadn’t returned to usual levels uniformly, the authors noted. Changes seen in NSW were likely to be replicated elsewhere across Australia and globally, depending on the prevalence of the virus and stage of the pandemic, they said, and all healthcare systems need to prepare for the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study is part of a special themed issue of Public Health Research & Practice on extreme events and how public health systems can learn and adapt. A perspective article for this issue looks at how extreme weather events, natural disasters and COVID-19 all have the potential to increase the risk of mosquito-borne disease. The author, Dr Cameron Webb of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at the University of University of Sydney, says we need to be adaptive in our mosquito control and management strategies across Australia and be aware when enhanced surveillance is needed due to early or late season public health risks associated with mosquitoes.

Another paper in this issue looks at a climate-related mass bat death event in Queensland, which raised the local risk of human infection with bat lyssavirus. The event points to the need for public health units to be prepared for unexpected events of climate change, the authors say.

Two other COVID-related papers in this issue find:

• People with low health literacy – many of whom also suffer chronic disease – have a much poorer understanding of COVID symptoms and ways to prevent infection
• Disruption of Australia’s cancer screening services due to COVID-19 could have major health repercussions, underlining the need for these services to adapt to ensure the population remains covered.

In an editorial for this issue, Guest Editors Dr Jean-Frédéric Levesque and Professor Mark Harris, Executive Director of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at UNSW Sydney, write that extreme events “probe the gaps” in public health systems, stress-testing them for strengths and deficiencies.

“We need a more adaptive system that can learn from these events, adapt in real time and change to address future extreme events. Decision making needs to be sufficiently centralised or coordinated to prevent further fragmentation of responses but decentralised enough to allow adaptation to local context and needs.”

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice. Note that links will be live from 0001HRS Wednesday 9 December 2020 (AEST). Please contact us (details below) if you would like to access the papers before this date.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute
M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor
M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

ABOUT THE SAX INSTITUTE

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe December 9th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Booming mosquito populations and biblical bat deaths: what to expect for Australia’s increasingly hot summers

Media release: 9 December 2020.

Increasingly frequent extreme weather events due to climate change are throwing up some unexpected health challenges, exemplified by two papers published in a new issue of the journal Public Health Research & Practice.

In one paper in the Sax Institute’s peer-reviewed journal, Dr Cameron Webb, Associate Professor of Medical Entomology at NSW Health Pathology, reports on a “dramatic increase” in mosquito populations last summer, and how extreme weather and other disruptive events are impacting our exposure to mosquito-borne disease.

Following an exceptionally wet four-day period in February this year, mosquitoes increased from hundreds to tens of thousands at local surveillance locations in NSW. This meant that as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded and health resources were stretched, NSW was also experiencing higher than normal rates of Ross River virus infections.

Adaptive responses across Australia will be needed to reduce mosquito-related disease risk during natural disasters and public health emergencies, Dr Webb says.

“With the return of the La Niña weather pattern, we’re likely to see wetter conditions in many parts of the country this summer. And we know that the amount of rainfall each summer is a key predictor for seasonal outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease, especially Ross River virus.

Another paper in this issue looks at an event of mass bat deaths due to extreme heatwave conditions. This took place in Far North Queensland in 2018 and involved many thousands of the endangered spectacled flying fox.

The public health threat of mass bat deaths lies in the increased risk of disease transmission from bats to humans, in particular the Australian bat lyssavirus, as people try to rescue unwell bats or remove the remains of dead ones. The Queensland bat die-off saw a significant increase in emergency department presentations of people injured while handling bats, who were treated with a vaccine and human rabies immunoglobulin.

The event and associated public health issues were unprecedented, resulting in large numbers of worried people presenting to the hospital and clinics for vaccination. Decaying bat corpses meant that some residents vacated their premises while others assisted in the clean-up operation. Inexperienced volunteers assisting with sick or deceased bats without proper protective clothing led to further exposure risks.

The study authors say that overall, the public health and council responses were effective, given the scale of the event, but there is always room for improvement. The need for a “one health” and climate-ready approach was highlighted by this event, they say. 

“With extreme heatwaves predicted to become increasingly common in Australia, this will not be the first time we see bats dying in biblical proportions. Climate change will likely bring new public health challenges and we need to recognise that humans, animals, ecosystems and environments are inextricably linked,” says lead author Dr Lea Merone of the Tropical Public Health Service in Cairns.

In an editorial for this issue, Guest Editors Dr Jean-Frédéric Levesque, Chief Executive of the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, and Professor Mark Harris, Executive Director of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at UNSW Sydney, write:

“Both of these papers (and of course the probable origin of Sars-CoV-2 itself) illustrate the increasing impact of humans on the natural environment and the need for a multisectoral ‘one health approach’ to addressing zoonotic diseases.”

Other papers in this issue find:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the provision of health services in NSW, slashing activity across most areas in ways that could have serious consequences on people’s health
• People with low health literacy – many of whom also suffer chronic disease – have a much poorer understanding of COVID symptoms and ways to prevent infection
• Disruption of Australia’s cancer screening services due to COVID-19 could have major health repercussions, underlining the need for these services to adapt to ensure the population remains covered.

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice. Note that links will be live from 0001HRS Wednesday 9 December 2020 (AEST). Please contact us (details below) if you would like to access the papers before this date.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute
M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor
M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Click here to subscribe to the journal.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

ABOUT THE SAX INSTITUTE

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe December 9th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

PHRP Awards recognise outstanding public health research that makes a difference

Media Release: 11 November 2020.

An influential research paper on the “revolving door” between government and the alcohol, food and gambling industries and another on a highly successful obesity prevention program in schools have been honoured in this year’s PHRP Excellence Awards.

The awards celebrate outstanding papers that have recently been published in the Sax Institute’s open-access, peer-reviewed, quarterly online journal, Public Health Research & Practice.

This year’s Best Paper Award went to Narelle Robertson, Associate Professor Gary Sacks and Professor Peter Miller from Deakin University for their work that explores the “revolving door” phenomenon, where people move between positions in government to lobbying roles for the alcohol, food and gambling industries. Their research found that over a third of people registered on the Australian Government Register of Lobbyists had previously been government representatives, and their lobbying work was often in areas directly related to their previous government role.  

The revolving door phenomenon favours industry interests by enhancing insider knowledge and providing access to policy makers through personal ties, the paper’s authors said. They pointed to delays in implementing alcohol warning labels and the lack of gambling reform despite strong public support as examples of where industry influence has undermined evidence-based public health policy.

“We urgently need a rethink on how we regulate this, and how long former government officials should have to wait before moving on to lobbying roles,” said senior author Professor Miller.

Publication of the paper sparked interest in policymaking circles and generated significant media coverage, with interviews and articles in the Guardian, The Australian, Fairfax newspapers and ABC programs.

The Award for Best ‘In Practice’ Paper – which specifically recognises work authored by frontline practitioners – was won by a team led by Andrea Bravo, Senior Policy Officer at the NSW Ministry of Health, for their work on the Live Life Well @ School program. This is a statewide, whole-of-school initiative which aims to encourage and support NSW primary school students and their families in adopting healthy eating and physical activity behaviours.

The paper reports on the achievements of the program, based on adoption of ten evidence-based “desirable practices”. These include providing opportunities and a supportive environment for healthy eating, encouragement of physical activity during recess and lunch, and incorporation of the program’s strategies into school planning processes. The authors found over 80% of primary schools across NSW were participating in the program, with equitable reach in areas of socio-economic disadvantage and remote location. Around three-quarters of participating schools had adopted desirable practices.

“Live Life Well @ School is a fantastic example of partnership between Local Health Districts and the schools sector to improve childhood health,” said senior author Chris Rissel, Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

“Our paper shows the importance of having evidence-based goals and good monitoring data for these kinds of projects. The data aspects of the program are a key strength for stakeholders: it really inspires confidence if you can clearly demonstrate improvements and log changes over time.”

Congratulating the winners, Editor-in-Chief of Public Health Research & Practice Professor Don Nutbeam said the work of the two teams, in their different ways, shows how research can make a meaningful contribution to public health policy and practice.

“The winners of these awards, along with those who have been highly commended for their contribution to the journal, are doing work that could end up having a long-term impact on Australians’ health and wellbeing,” he said.

“We are lucky to have researchers of this calibre in our midst, and I look forward to seeing how they and their peers will continue to shape Australia’s future public health landscape.”

The awards for Best Paper and Best ‘In Practice’ Paper celebrate excellence in public health research, practice and policy, and recognise the inspirational work taking place in Australia. The judging panel, comprising members of the Journal’s Editorial Board, judges papers for their potential impact on public health policy and practice, usefulness to policy makers, researchers and public health practitioners, rigour of methodology and quality of analysis and presentation.

WINNING AND HIGHLY COMMENDED PAPERS

Best Paper
The revolving door between government and the alcohol, food and gambling industries in Australia (September 2019)

Narelle M Robertson, Gary Sacks, Peter G Miller

Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
The equitable reach of a universal, multisector childhood obesity prevention program (Live Life Well @ School) in Australian primary school (March 2020)

Andrea Bravo, Bridget C Foley, Christine Innes-Hughes, Blythe J O’Hara, Bronwyn McGill, Chris Rissel

Highly commended – best papers
On a knife’s edge of a COVID-19 pandemic: is containment still possible? (March 2020)

C Raina MacIntyre

Developing a screening tool to recognise social determinants of health in Australian clinical setting (December 2019)
Kathryn Browne-Yung, Toby Freeman, Malcolm Battersby, Doug R McEvoy, Fran Baum

Highly commended – ‘In practice’ papers
Proliferation of ‘healthy’ alcohol products in Australia: implications for policy (September 2019)
Danica Keric, Julia Stafford

The Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool: a pilot study assessing five interventions for scalability (June 2020)

Karen Lee, Andrew Milat, Anne Grunseit, Kathleen Conte, Luke Wolfenden, Adrian Bauman

ABOUT THE PHRP EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Launched in 2018, these awards celebrate the high calibre of articles published in Public Health Research & Practice – an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. All papers considered for the 2019 awards have appeared in an issue of the Public Health Research & Practice journal published within the past year.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute
M: 0451 122 146 E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor
M: 0408 331 262 E: [email protected]

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Click here to subscribe to the journal.

ABOUT THE SAX INSTITUTE

The Sax Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that improves health and wellbeing by driving better use of evidence in policies, programs and services.

Megan Howe November 11th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Experts call for renewed anti-smoking push as 1.6 million Australian smokers face early death, social costs soar

Media Release: 9 September 2020.

Australia risks losing its momentum on tobacco control after decades of policy successes in the area, cancer experts warn, with government investment in mass media campaigns falling to about one-fifth of the amount spent a decade ago, even as evidence on the harms of smoking has risen.

The annual overall cost to Australia caused by smoking was recalculated last year to be nearly $137 billion, more than four times the previous estimate reported in 2004. However, the expert authors of a perspective published today in a special themed issue of Public Health Research & Practice say that spending on anti-smoking media campaigns by the Australian, NSW and Victorian governments fell from about $36 million to $7.1 million between 2010-11 and 2017-18, despite this being among the most cost-effective reduction strategies.

Australia’s national adult smoking rate is now 16% for men and 12% for women, down from 58% and 28% for men and women respectively more than 40 years ago. Daily smoking in Australians aged over 14 is at an all-time low of 11.5%. But evidence about the harms of smoking has continued to mount, with smoking now shown to cause 15 fatal cancer types besides lung cancer, and about 11.5% of heart disease deaths as well as accounting for nearly 10% of Australia’s total disease burden – with smoking the underlying cause of premature death in two in three long-term smokers.

Authors Paul Grogan, of the Cancer Council, and Professor Emily Banks, of the Australian National University’s National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health and the Sax Institute, write in their perspective that the “risk of smoking causing as many as 1.6 million preventable deaths in Australia (two-thirds of current smokers) should be enough to galvanise a re-energised, whole-of-government response to tobacco control”.

The two authors welcome Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s recent commitment to reduce the national smoking rate to 10% by 2025, and call for the fourth National Tobacco Strategy now in development to “form a blueprint for re-energising tobacco control”. “Tobacco control in Australia is a great success story but it is far from over,” they write.

The perspective is one of nine papers published today as part of a special issue of the journal produced in partnership with Cancer Council Australia. Other papers in the issue identify “compelling opportunities” to reduce smoking rates further:

• One paper calls for a national strategy for treating tobacco dependence in Australia, which would see evidence-based cessation approaches actively promoted to individuals. The authors, from Quit Victoria and Deakin University, say “treatment is fragmented and resourcing is woefully inadequate given the scale of mortality and morbidity”.
• On tobacco availability, a paper by experts from Cancer Council NSW, the University of Sydney and Western Sydney University says additional curbs on the currently widespread availability of tobacco are a “critical next step” in the fight against tobacco use, after finding that 90% of adults surveyed in in NSW said cigarettes were easily accessible at retailers near their homes.
• Former Health Minister Dr Michael Wooldridge says in an interview in the journal that despite many recent policy successes, “there’s not enough happening” to maintain downward pressure on smoking. Dr Wooldridge says that action on tobacco should only be eased “when adult smoking rates are 2% or lower”.

“These measures should be underpinned by the most effective form of public education – hard-hitting mass media campaigns that discourage smoking and help pull all the pieces of a comprehensive approach together in a powerful message,” Mr Grogan and Professor Banks write.

In an editorial, Becky Freeman, Anita Dessaix and Matthew Peters say fears that chronic disease prevention will be put aside during the COVID19 pandemic further fuel the need to renew investment in tobacco control.

“The COVID19 pandemic has also seen record numbers of UK citizens quit smoking in light of the link between smoking and likelihood of suffering from severe coronavirus illness. Public health concerns need not compete with each other, both the COVID19 pandemic and tobacco use can be concurrently and effectively addressed.”  

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research and Practice.

Media enquiries

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Megan Howe September 9th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Modelling shows tracking app critical to containing COVID second wave

Media release: 30 June 2020.

Independent modelling published today projects a second wave of COVID-19 in Australia if social distancing and testing decline further – but new cases could be slashed by over 50% if enough people use the COVIDSafe app and remaining issues with it are resolved.

While social distancing and high rates of testing remain the best ways to limit the spread, the Sax Institute researchers behind the modelling say the smartphone app could be “insurance” against reignition of the pandemic.

The modelling, published in the peer-reviewed journal Public Health Research & Practice, uses evidence on factors such as the speed and characteristics of the virus’s spread to project likely consequences for case numbers under various scenarios.

The ‘baseline’ scenario assumes a 50% monthly decline in social distancing and a 5% monthly drop in testing intensity going forward – the authors’ estimate of what was happening in May when the paper was written. Their model finds that if 61% of the population in this scenario downloaded the COVIDSafe app onto their phones, the number of infections in a second wave would be 55% lower than if there were no app.

In contrast, the current app uptake level (27%) would have a much smaller effect, resulting in only 24% fewer cases between April and December 2020, the modelling shows.

The research team, led by the Sax Institute’s Dr Danielle Currie, Senior Simulation Modeller, and Dr Michael Frommer, Senior Adviser, say the potential alternative to an effective response centred on social distancing, testing and contact tracing assisted by the app is that “restrictions on travel and social interaction…may need to be re-introduced”.

Dr Frommer said the model projections should be a clarion call for state and federal governments to redouble their efforts in promoting the app to the public as well as ensuring that any lingering technical issues are swiftly resolved.

“Testing and social distancing will exert the biggest influence on controlling the curve of the second wave, but the tracking app can play a very important role,” he said.

“At our current uptake levels, the app will help with contact tracing, but not significantly. What our work shows is that if we can push uptake to around three-fifths of the population, then it will make a huge difference. It would halve the number of people getting COVID-19 in the event of a second wave and decrease the death rate as well.”

The study involved an extensive literature review of the epidemiology of COVID-19, case-finding practices and factors that could affect the uptake of the app, and finally the development of a robust system dynamics model based on the behaviour of the virus and its interaction with social, behavioural, and policy factors, using pandemic data from Australia and across the world. The model projects the number of people infected by the virus through to the end of the year. It can be adjusted to account for different rates of testing, intensity of social distancing and uptake of the tracking app.

The modelling study is part of a special themed issue of Public Health Research & Practice on the public health lessons we are learning from the COVID pandemic.

In a perspective article for this issue, Professor Julie Leask and Dr Claire Hooker, both of the University of Sydney, argue that better risk communication could have reduced the controversy around school closures in Australia due to the pandemic. Events leading up to the school closures created a “near perfect storm of fright factors”, they write, escalating people’s fear while reducing their trust in those working to manage the problem. The authors offer a step-by-step guide in managing communications during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two other COVID-related articles in this issue of Public Health Research & Practice find:

• A cross-disciplinary effort is needed to understand the prevalence, predictors and consequences of loneliness and social isolation brought on by social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic
• A global checklist can point the way towards effective communication during a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an editorial for this issue, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Professor Don Nutbeam, Principal Senior Adviser at the Sax Institute and Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, writes that maintaining the fragile consensus between governments, their scientific advisers and their citizens is critical to the successful control of the virus.

“The consensus will be sustained by mutual trust built on effective communication – between scientists and policy makers, and between governments and their populations.”

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research and Practice.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Megan Howe June 30th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Australia should prepare for higher coronavirus death rates than in China: biosecurity expert

Media release: 10 March 2020

Australia could see higher proportional death rates from the novel coronavirus outbreak than in China, due to our relatively older population and the more severe symptoms of the virus in older people, according to a perspective penned by one of the world’s leading biosecurity experts.

The warning follows the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in a Sydney aged care facility and the death of one resident who tested positive for the virus.

Writing in the latest issue of the journal Public Health Research & Practice, published by the Sax Institute, Professor Raina MacIntyre, who heads the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, says the possibility of a proportionally greater morbidity and mortality impact in Australia means that we should persist with all feasible prevention measures for as long as possible.

Travel restrictions and quarantines are proven interventions for disease control, Professor MacIntyre says, but travel bans are not sustainable indefinitely because of our close economic ties with China.

“Countries everywhere will have to make choices between the economic and public health consequences of COVID-19,” she writes.

Professor MacIntyre’s wide-ranging perspective looks at the likely impacts of novel coronavirus disease in Australia and elsewhere, and is informed by a rigorous training simulation for a pandemic in Sydney she undertook with colleagues in 2018.

She points to cruise ships as a “weak link” that could lead to sustained community transmission of the deadly infection in Australia and elsewhere. A cruise ship berthed in Sydney Harbour with 500 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection would “immediately stress our health system” and any prolonged epidemic could rapidly exhaust our capacity for ICU and isolation beds, as well as stocks of personal protective equipment and other supplies.

“Advice to Australians to avoid cruises in the Asia-Western Pacific region at this time may be prudent,” she writes.

Once travel bans are lifted, we need to be prepared for a potential surge of cases worldwide, Professor MacIntyre says, with schools, universities, sports and entertainment venues being sites of more intense transmission. We may need to plan for alternative sites for contact quarantine and the use of community volunteers.

Other key points:

• New Australian cases of infection in people with no travel history or known contact with a carrier suggests we may have entered a period of sustained community transmission of COVID-19
• Cases are occurring where people have the virus but are not showing symptoms – and they may be just as likely to spread the infection as people with disease symptoms
• A high ratio of deaths to cases in Iran and Italy suggests a substantial proportion of undiagnosed cases and community transmission, and in Japan researchers estimate that more than 90% of cases are undetected.

Another highlight of this latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice is a research article on the junk food advertising children are exposed to on their trip to school. Researchers from Cancer Council NSW and the University of Wollongong found that kids may see up to 2800 of these ads every year on their school route, many of them adorning buses, bus shelters and train stations. The authors call for all state governments to ban junk food advertising from state-owned property.

Another article focuses on end-of-life care in rural and remote Australia. Often GPs deliver palliative care in these regions, despite feeling ill-equipped for the role. The study authors outline a compelling, patient-centred solution that could guide local care for those in need across all settings and providers.

Other articles find:

• A NSW obesity prevention program has reached 80% of state primary schools, showing the way forward in promoting healthy lifestyles to children
• Over 45,000 Australians prescribed statins stopped taking the medication when copayments were significantly increased, demonstrating the effect of cost on compliance
• Many pregnant women have unresolved fears around vaccination, and GPs and other health professionals may need to do more to allay their fears.

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research and Practice. Note that links will be live from 0001HRS Tuesday 10 March 2020. Please contact us (details below) if you would like to access the papers before this date.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Megan Howe March 10th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases

Time to bin junk food advertising? Kids bombarded by ads on their school run

Media release: 10 March 2020

Children are exposed to up to 2800 ads for junk food every year on their way to and from school – ads which influence their food preferences and contribute to childhood obesity – according to a new study that points to public transport as one of the culprits.

The authors call for all state governments to ban junk food advertising from state-owned property such as trains and buses, noting that the ACT government has already removed it from their bus network, while Queensland is set to phase out unhealthy marketing from its outdoor advertising spaces.

The research in the latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice, published by the Sax Institute, uses Google Maps to plot typical train, bus and walking routes to 21 representative schools in the Greater Sydney region, attended by 23,000 students.

Conducted by Cancer Council NSW and the University of Wollongong, the study found that a third of ads seen along these school routes – on buses, bus shelters, train stations and elsewhere – were for food and beverages. The vast majority of these (75%) were for “discretionary” foods, or those that are not needed in a healthy diet.

Fast foods such as burgers, chips and pizza were the most commonly advertised types of food and beverages (23%), followed by sugary drinks (17%) and snack foods (16%).

Kids who walk to school see the least number of junk food ads (1.7 per trip), while those who take the train see considerably more (7.3 per trip). Travelling to and from school over a year, children are exposed to 2800 junk food ads if they regularly take the train, and 1000 if they regularly take the bus, the researchers found.

“Repeated exposure to unhealthy food advertising on school trips, especially coupled with exposure to other forms of advertising such as on television and online, means that children are immersed in an obesogenic environment that undermines efforts to develop healthy eating habits,” write the authors led by Ms Clare Hughes, Manager of Cancer Council NSW’s Nutrition Unit.

Banning junk food ads on government property “would demonstrate a commitment to creating environments that help children to develop healthy eating habits and would support other government initiatives to reduce childhood obesity,” they argue.

Another highlight of this latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice is a perspective article on the novel coronavirus outbreak. Authored by world-leading biosecurity expert Professor Raina MacIntyre of the Kirby Institute, UNSW, it is the first article to appear in a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the outbreak’s potential impact in Australia. Professor MacIntyre argues that Australia faces some unique challenges in managing this public health crisis.

Another article in this issue focuses on end-of-life care in rural and remote Australia. Often GPs deliver palliative care in these regions, despite feeling ill-equipped for the role. The study authors outline a compelling, patient-centred solution that could guide local care for those in need across all settings and providers.

Other articles find:

• A NSW obesity prevention program has reached 80% of state primary schools, showing the way forward in promoting healthy lifestyles to children
• Over 45,000 Australians prescribed statins stopped taking the medication when copayments were significantly increased, demonstrating the effect of cost on compliance
• Many pregnant women have unresolved fears around vaccination, and GPs and other health professionals may need to do more to allay their fears.

Click here to view the full contents of the latest issue of Public Health Research and Practice. Note that links will be live from 0001HRS Tuesday 10 March 2020. Please contact us (details below) if you would like to access the papers before this date.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Hugo Wilcken, Media Manager, Sax Institute

M: 0451 122 146    E: [email protected]

Nyssa Skilton, PHRP Editor

M: 0408 331 262    E: [email protected]

Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed, Medline-listed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. Click here to subscribe for free.

Please acknowledge Public Health Research & Practice as the source for any stories on our papers.

Megan Howe March 10th, 2020

Posted In: Media, Media Releases