View this email in your browser
In this edition: JOIN A DISCUSSION FROM OUR NETWORK
A word from the Director
Barbara McPake, Director, Nossal Institute of Global Health

As we find ourselves in the midst of another lockdown and the realisation Delta will be delaying our new normal, seeing the rising attention directed to health equity issues is a silver lining. I discussed the outrageous state of global health inequity in a recent article on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and that’s only one example of the inequities laid bare by the COVID-19 trail of destruction. 

The Nossal team continues to deliver work globally, despite closed international boarders for almost 18 months. We are co-leading a consortium with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to deliver accessible rehabilitation,  including assistive technology (AT), to the most vulnerable populations in low-and middle-income countries.

We are collaborating with global colleagues to understand the impact of the pandemic, and the health system reforms that enabled services to adapt. We are using our skills and experience to ensure we maximize every possible learning from the pandemic and share that knowledge to build capacity. 

I continue to be impressed at the extent to which COVID-19 has failed to dent the passion and commitment of the Nossal team and all the many people and organisations we collaborate with, and the collective effort to identify and implement effective strategies for great health outcomes.

In this edition of The Nossal Newsletter you can learn how our research, education and inclusive development is improving the public health and futures of vulnerable communities.
 
Thank you for your ongoing support of The Nossal Institute. We are looking forward to keeping you updated on the work we are doing to build stronger, equitable health systems. 

Stay well.

Barbara

Global Initiative on Strengthening Health Systems for Rehabilitation

The Nossal Institute and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are leading a consortium to strengthen rehabilitation services for millions of people in low- and middle-income countries.  The consortium are implementing a program, Learning, Acting and Building for Rehabilitation in Health Systems (ReLAB-HS), with a USD$39.5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Leahy War Victims Fund.Read more

COVID's impact on health system reforms

As Australian states and countries in the region, which managed to contain COVID-19 in 2020, work to contain outbreaks of variants, we have been in awe of the commitment and fearlessness of health workers and policy makers. These heroes have been working around the clock on designing and implementing public health measures, ensuring the continuation of routine services and leading the vaccination rollout. Read more

 

Towards building responsive health systems

As health services become widely available and accessible in low- and middle-income country health systems, our attention needs to turn to making these services more responsive. We are collaborating with global colleagues to understand how health systems can become more responsive to neglected health needs of vulnerable groups. Read more

 

Can we improve Indonesia's cervical cancer response?

High income countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, have invested in comprehensive cervical cancer responses and are now experiencing low rates of incidence and very low mortality. This is in stark contrast with low- and middle-income countries that have yet to achieve an adequate response to cervical cancer. Read more

 

Filling a critical knowledge gap

The COVID19 pandemic has revealed failings in global capacity to prepare for and respond to a truly global pandemic. In response to increased demand for expertise, the Nossal team have fast tracked the development of a new subject to fill a critical gap in, how pandemics are prepared for and can be responded to Read more

 

Systems One Health: Equitable engagement

‘One Health’ describes issues and activities at the interface between humans, animals and the environment. Effective One Health practices create greater benefits for stakeholders in these sectors, more efficiently and cost-effectively than can be achieved by working alone. Read more 

Empowering Choices: Communicating family planning knowledge and behaviours in Kiribati

When women and girls can exercise their right to make informed decisions on when and how often to become pregnant, they enjoy better health, can achieve higher levels of education, expand their workforce opportunities, and generate more income for their families. Read more 

Community based training for an inclusive India

Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) need well trained local staff to meet the rehabilitation needs of people with disability.  We have worked closely the Melbourne Disability Institute and with the Department of People with Disability (DEPWD) to co-design the Community Based Inclusive Disability(CBID) course. Read more 

Why study Global Health? Lessons from the COVID pandemic

While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt across the globe, it's important we  learn from this pandemic and start planning for future threats of this nature. COVID-19 has made us even more aware of the skills that we need as a society to respond effectively to public health crises Read more 

Understanding the need for Assistive Technology

More than 2 billion people are likely to need assistive products by 2050 and currently only 10% of people get the assistive products they need. Assistive products are also a crucial part of healthy ageing, disability inclusion, recovering from injury or illness, and addressing a range of congenital conditions such as club foot. We are collaborating on global efforts to transform how the need for AT is understood Read more 

Women, indigenous groups and One Health: from social protection to harnessing powerful agents of change

Engaging with women is fundamental to strengthening the inter-connection pathways for societal and planetary good, while the use of a ‘One Health’ approach can also better enable the social protection of women and vulnerable groups. Clare Strachan, Max Barot, Angus Campbell write about how critical the gender component of the human-animal-environment interface is.  Read more 

One Health in the Greater Mekong Subregion: Where are we now and where next

COVID-19 has shown how intrinsically human, animal and environmental wellbeing are connected. It is critical to include the One Health lessons learned to date, and a broad range of outbreak preparedness activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) regional COVID-19 recovery plan.  Read more 

Digital health tools empower stroke healthcare

COVID-19 has shown how intrinsically human, animal and environmental wellbeing are connected. It is critical to include the One Health lessons learned to date, and a broad range of outbreak preparedness activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) regional COVID-19 recovery plan.  Read more 
Macro photo of tooth wheel mechanism with ALWAYS SEEK KNOWLEDGE words imprinted on metal surface

Professional Development

Did you know you can study Masters level subjects? 
You can access single subject study through the Community Access Program (CAP).
Primary Health Care & Global Health 26 July  - 6 August
Prioritising & Planning in Public Health 27 July – 31 August
Comparative Health Systems 11 August – 15 September
Pandemic Preparedness and Response 6 -17 September
Disability and Global Development 20 September – 1 October
Global Health and Human Rights 4 – 15 October
Browse our 2021 subjects

New additions to the Nossal Team

Our team has been expanding to support some exciting new projects. We welcome our new staff.

Alison Macintyre

Alison is a strong health generalist with a broad range of development practitioner skills in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and gender and inclusion, and a strong understanding of health systems and application of public health approaches. Read more

Dr Hang Li

Dr. Hang Li is a research fellow with an interest in population analysis and a focus on surveillance of NCD epidemiology. He  has extensive population health research experience in Beijing, China, including epidemiological research in SARS and non-communicable diseases control, health service, health literature, health policy and EMSS (emergency medical service system) research. Read more

Kathryn Dobson

Katherine is a mixed-methods evaluator and applied researcher with ten years’ experience advising international and community development programs in Timor-Leste, Cambodia and Australia. She is passionate about using evaluation process and findings to facilitate learning, shape strategy and improve programming – and using participatory approaches that draw on the strengths of participants and partners. Read more

Dr Tim Adair

Dr Tim Adair is a demographer and has joined the Nossal Institute as a Principal Research Fellow. His primary interest is working with Governments of low-to-middle income countries to strengthen their civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems and improve the quality of health data available to policymakers. Read more

Dr Selina Lo

Dr Selina Lo has been appointed Executive Director of the Australian Global Health Alliance. Dr Lo has over two decades experience in global and international health with qualifications in medicine (University of Melbourne), tropical medicine (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and a Masters in Public and International Law (University of Melbourne). Read more

Sonja Firth

Sonja is a health systems specialist, with over 12 years’ experience working in countries to implement evidence-based planning and to improve the quality of data used for health programming. Sonja has extensive experience developing and delivering training and providing technical support for implementation and evaluation of complex interventions across the Asia-Pacific region. Read more

Join the Nossal Team

Are you interested in playing a part in strengthening the quality, affordability and inclusiveness of health systems in the Asia Pacific region? Browse our career opportunities.

Recent publications of our academics and researchers

2021

A randomised controlled trial of the immunogenicity and safety of a formaldehyde-inactivated Coxiella burnetii vaccine in 8-week-old goats Muleme, M; Devlin, J; Campbell, A; Vincent, G; Benham,P; Sprohnle, C; Stent, A; Cameron, A; Islam, A; Graves, S; Wilks, C; Stenos,J; Firestone, S Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology, 236, 110253 - April 2021

A Position Statement on Behavioural Approaches to Longer-Term Weight Management. Stubbs R, J, Duarte C, O’Driscoll R, Turicchi J, Kwasnicka D, Sniehotta F, F, Marques M, M, Horgan G, Larsen S, Palmeira A, Santos I, Teixeira P, J, Halford J, Heitmann B, L: The H2020 NoHoW Project: Obes Facts 2021;14:246-258.

Application of a Scorecard Tool for Assessing and Engaging Media on Responsible Reporting of Suicide-Related News in India. Vijayakumar, L., Shastri, M., Fernandes, T. N., Bagra, Y., Pathare, A., Patel, A., . . . Pathare, S. (2021).  Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18(12).

Are the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 Suitable for Use in India? A Psychometric Analysis De Man J, Absetz P, Sathish T, Desloge A, Haregu T, Oldenburg B, Johnson L C. M., Thankappan K,.R, Williams E D. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 676398 - May 2021

Association of APOE ε4 genotype and lifestyle with cognitive function among Chinese adults aged 80 years and older: A cross-sectional study.. Jin, X., He, W., Zhang, Y., Gong, E., Niu, Z., Ji, J., . . . Yan, L. L. (2021). PLoS Med, 18(6), e1003597.

Associations between mental health disorder and management of physical chronic conditions in China: a pooled cross-sectional analysis Zheng Zhang, Grace Sum, Vicky Mengqi Qin, Yang Zhao, Tilahun Nigatu Haregu, Brian Oldenburg, John Tayu Lee 2021, Scientific Reports - Article

Determining the vocational competencies required to deliver community-based rehabilitation and inclusive development services in India Gale, L., Gillis, S. & Grills, N.Disability and Rehabilitation

Diversity of epidemiological transition in the Pacific: Findings from the application of verbal autopsy in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, John D Hart, PKB Mahesh, Viola Kwa, Matthew Reeve, Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury, Gregory Jilini, Rooney Jagilly, Baakai Kamoriki, Rodley Ruskin, Paison Dakulala, Paulus Ripa, Dale Frank, Theresa Lei, Tim Adair, Deirdre McLaughlin, Ian D Riley, Alan D Lopez, The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, Volume 11, 2021, 100150, ISSN 2666-6065

DPO membership has immediate transactional benefits as well as personal impact; Butcher,N., Singh, P., Grills, N., Soji, F,.Vol. 17 No. 2 (2021): Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, Volume 17, Issue 2

Effectiveness of a primary care-based integrated mobile health intervention for stroke management in rural China (SINEMA): A cluster-randomized controlled trial.. Yan, L. L., Gong, E., Gu, W., Turner, E. L., Gallis, J. A., Zhou, Y., . . . Oldenburg, B. (2021). PLoS Med, 18(4), e1003582.

Effect of multimorbidity on utilisation and out-of-pocket expenditure in Indonesia: quantile regression analysis. Anindya, K., Ng, N., Atun, R. et al.BMC Health Serv Res 21, 427 (2021).

Effects of the Mental Health First Aid for the suicidal person course on beliefs about suicide, stigmatising attitudes, confidence to help, and intended and actual helping actions: an evaluation. Bond, K. S., Cottrill, F. A., Mackinnon, A., Morgan, A. J., Kelly, C. M., Armstrong, G., . . . Jorm, A. F. (2021). EINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEMS, 15(1), 12 pages.

Effect of routinely assessing and addressing depression and diabetes distress using patient-reported outcome measures in improving outcomes among adults with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review protocol Rita McMorrow, Barbara Hunter, Christel Hendrieckx, Dominika Kwasnicka, Leanne Cussen, Felicia Ching Siew Ho, Jane Speight, Jon Emery, Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis  2021BMJ Open - Article

Eliminating again, for the last time: A case study of donor support for malaria in Solomon Islands. Burkot, C.,  Gilbert, K. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies

Enabling change in public health services: Insights from the implementation of nurse mentoring interventions to improve quality of obstetric and newborn care in two North Indian states Kane S, Dayal P, Mahapatra T et al.[ version 3; peer review: 2 approved, 1 not approved]. Gates Open Res 2021, 4:61

Enhancing the translation of health behaviour change research into practice: a selective conceptual review of the synergy between implementation science and health psychology.  Presseau, J., Byrne-Davis, L. M. T., Hotham, S., Lorencatto, F., Potthoff, S., Atkinson, L., . . . Byrne, M. (2021).  HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW, 28 pages.

Estimating patterns in the under-reporting of suicide deaths in India: comparison of administrative data and Global Burden of Disease Study estimates, 2005-2015.  Arya, V., Page, A., Armstrong, G., Kumar, G. A., & Dandona, R. (2021). JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH, 75(6), 550-555.

Habit formation following routine-based versus time-based cue planning: A randomized controlled trial.. Keller, J., Kwasnicka, D., Klaiber, P., Sichert, L., Lally, P., & Fleig, L. (2021).Br J Health Psychol.

Health Service Utilization and Out-of-Pocket Expenditure Associated with the Continuum of Disability in Vietnam. Owolabi MO, Thrift AG, Martins S, et al. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(11):5657.

Increase in Body Mass Index in Children With HIV, Switched to Tenofovir Alafenamide Fumarate or Dolutegravir Containing Antiretroviral Regimens. Yeoh, D. K., Campbell, A. J., & Bowen, A. C. (2021). PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE JOURNAL, 40(5), E215-E216.

Indian media professionals’ perspectives regarding the role of media in suicide prevention and receptiveness to media guidelines: a qualitative study Armstrong G, Vijayakumar L, Cherian A, et al BMJ Open 2021;11:e047166.

Is there an association between public spending on health and choice of healthcare providers across socioeconomic groups in India? - Evidence from a national sample. Mulcahy, P., Mahal, A., McPake, B., Kane, S., Ghosh, P. K., & Lee, J. T. (2021). . Social Science & Medicine, 114149.

Overseas Medical Referral: the health system challenges for Pacific Island Countries Boudville, A., Irava, W., Motofaga, S., Gilbert, K.,  Annear, P., Pacific Health Vol. 4 (2021)

Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Inhaled Oxytocin Compared with Intramuscular Oxytocin: The First Randomised Open-Label Study in Women in the Third Stage of Labour. Gajewska-Knapik, Katarzyna and Kumar, Subramanya and Sutton-Cole, Amy and Palmer, Kirsten R. and Cahn, Anthony and Gibson, Rachel A. and Parry, Simon and Schneider, Ian and Stylianou, Annie and Hacquoil, Kimberley and Powell, Marcy and Ellis, Melissa and McIntosh, Michelle P. and Lambert, Pete and Nguyen, Tri-Hung and Murray, Jack and Goodall, Cleo and Kirkpatrick, Carl and Siederer, Sarah and Oliver, Victoria L., .

Proposing a new approach to funding behavioural interventions using iterative methods.. Kwasnicka, D., Ten Hoor, G. A., Hekler, E., Hagger, M. S., & Kok, G. (2021). Psychol Health, 1-5.

Protocol for a realist synthesis of health systems responsiveness in low-income and middle-income countries Mirzoev T, Cronin de Chavez A, Manzano A, .....Kane, S.et al BMJ Open 2021;11:e046992.

Severity and prevalence of small lungworm infection on three South Australian farms and associations with sheep carcass characteristics..Hanks, J. E., Campbell, A. J. D., & Larsen, J. W. A. (2021). Vet Parasitol, 296, 109503.

Temporal trends and variation in out-of-pocket expenditures and patient cost sharing: evidence from a Chinese national survey 2011-2015.. Qin, V. M., Zhang, Y., Chia, K. S., McPake, B., Zhao, Y., Hulse, E. S. G., . . . Lee, J. T. (2021).Int J Equity Health, 20(1), 143.

The association between mental-physical multimorbidity and disability, work productivity, and social participation in China: a panel data analysis. Pan, T., Mercer, S. W., Zhao, Y., McPake, B., Desloge, A., Atun, R., . . . Lee, J. T. (2021).BMC Public Health, 21(1), 376.

The association of TV viewing time with 2-hour plasma glucose is modified by a prudent dietary patter. Cao, Y., Dunstan, D. W., Sethi, P., & Owen, N. (2021). n. JOURNAL OF DIABETES, 11 pages.

The Aussie-FIT process evaluation: feasibility and acceptability of a weight loss intervention for men, delivered in Australian Football League settings Kwasnicka D, Donnachie C, Thøgersen-Ntoumani C, Hunt K, Gray C.M, Ntoumanis N, McBride H, McDonald M D, Newton R U, Gucciardi D F, Olson J L, Wyke S, Morgan P J, Kerr D A, Robinson S, Quested  E 2021  Psychology and Health - Article

The effect of pasture molluscicide on small lungworm infections and the productivity of grazing lambs.. Hanks, J. E., Larsen, J. W. A., & Campbell, A. J. D. (2021). Vet Parasitol, 292, 109395.

The impacts of long-term exposure to PM2.5 on cancer hospitalizations in Brazil, Pei Yu, Rongbin Xu, Micheline S.Z.S. Coelho, Paulo H.N. Saldiva, Shanshan Li, Qi Zhao, Ajay Mahal, Malcolm Sim, Michael J. Abramson, Yuming Guo,Environment International, Volume 154, 2021, 106671, ISSN 0160-4120,

The Prevalence of Metabolic Disease Multimorbidity and Its Associations With Spending and Health Outcomes in Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese Adults Frontiers in Public Health, Zhao Y, Zhang P, Lee J T,Oldenburg B, van Heusden A, Haregu T , Wang H., 9, 658706 - May 2021, Frontiers in Public Health - Article

The prevalence of multimorbidity and its association with physical activity and sleep duration in middle aged and elderly adults: a longitudinal analysis from China. He, L., Biddle, S.J.H., Lee, J.T. et al.Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 18, 77 (2021).

The state of stroke services across the globe: Report of World Stroke Organization–World Health Organization surveys. Owolabi MO, Thrift AG, Martins S, et al.International Journal of Stroke. May 2021.

‘They say we are money minded’ exploring experiences of formal private for-profit health providers towards contribution to pro-poor access in post conflict Northern Uganda Namakula J, Fustukian S., McPake B, Ssengooba2021, Global Health Action - Article

The Your COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool and the Accompanying Open Access Data and Materials Repositories. Peters, G. Y., Kwasnicka, D., Crutzen, R., ten Hoor, G. A., Varol, T., Berry, E., … Roozen, S. (2021, June 29).

Timing of biochar dosage for anaerobic digestion treating municipal leachate: Altered conversion pathways of volatile fatty acids..Tsui, T. -H., Zhang, L., Lim, E. Y., Lee, J. T. E., & Tong, Y. W. (2021).Bioresour Technol, 335, 125283.

Use of social impact bonds in financing health systems responses to non-communicable diseases: scoping review. Hulse ESG, Atun R, McPake B, et al BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004127.

Using farmer observations for animal health syndromic surveillance: Participation and performance of an online enhanced passive surveillance system. Pfeiffer, C. Stevenson, M., Firestone, S., Larsen,J., Campbell, A.,  Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Volume 188, 2021, 105262, ISSN 0167-5877,

Using Stakeholder Perceptions to Inform Future Efforts to Implement Mental Health First Aid Training in China: A Qualitative Study. Lu, S., He, Y., Searle, K., Absetz, P., Oldenburg, B., & Reavley, N. (2021). FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY, 12, 11 pages.

We’re all in this together: recommendations from the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Open Science Working Group. Hesse, B.W., Conroy, D.E.,  Kwaśnicka, D., Waring, M.E., Hekler, E.,  Andrus, S., Tercyak, K.P.,  King, A.C,  Diefenbach,M.A. Translational Behavioral Medicine, Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2021, Pages 693–698

X-ray-Based Techniques to Study the Nano-Bio Interface. Sanchez-Cano, C., Alvarez-Puebla, R. A., Abendroth, J. M., Beck, T., Blick, R., Cao, Y., . . . Parak, W. J. (2021). ACS Nano, 54 pages.

Keep in touch on our socials
.
Copyright © 2021 Nossal Institute for Global Health, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp