Britain has moved to limit junk food marketing to children, despite loopholes and lobbying. Australia still hasn’t acted.
Category: Health
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Best of 2025 – Australia faces a looming crisis of older women retiring in poverty. Here’s what we can do
Australia faces a serious challenge. Despite important progress on gender equality over recent decades, a looming crisis now threatens the economic security of older women. Without urgent and bold action, we risk consigning further generations of women to poverty in retirement. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – States increase pressure on Commonwealth to address hospital cost increases
Hark back to December 2023. National Cabinet endorsed a historic agreement setting the parameters for future Commonwealth-state sharing of public hospital costs over the next decade. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Government is planning hardship for older Australians living at home
Aged care has again been in the media for all the wrong reasons. Two failures are attracting particular attention. (more…)
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A beginners guide to Australian aged care policy in 2025
Stereotypes about wealthy baby boomers are skewing aged care policy. New fees, the shift to Support at Home, and pressures on community services risk leaving many older Australians without affordable, safe support. The consequences will be felt across families, hospitals and future generations. (more…)
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UK–US drug deal risks turning the NHS into a casualty of Trump trade politics
A new agreement with the Trump administration would force Britain’s National Health Service to pay billions more for medicines to avoid tariffs – prompting outrage from MPs, health experts and patient advocates.
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Why multicultural aged care is the key to meeting Australia’s ageing challenge
Australia’s ageing population is growing faster than the systems built to support it, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. A co-designed, public–private aged care model offers a practical, humane and economically sound path to meet this challenge before crisis overwhelms the system. (more…)
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Root canals and conspiracies
Social media misinformation is creating a public health problem of lost teeth, prolonged dental pain, unnecessary costs, and worsening inequalities in oral health.
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Clean your room
During 1937, Lang Hancock from the Mulga Downs pastoral station in Western Australia began mining and milling activities for blue asbestos (crocidolite) at the nearby Yampire Gorge. (more…)
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Vaping: A disruptive innovation of smoking and rapidly replacing cigarettes
Recognised as a concept over three decades ago, “disruptive innovations” are new and improved ways of meeting consumers’ needs that generally sweep away conventional approaches of market-leading firms by a process of creative destruction. (more…)
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Living with schizophrenia
The title of this book is emblematic. It gets to the heart of the problem of schizophrenia, indeed within the authors’ preface. (more…)
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Dental health – time for a small, cost-effective revolution
In the many years I’ve been writing about the dental divide, the only movement I’ve seen is in the increasingly bad numbers around poor oral health, waiting lists and costs to patients. It’s time to see dental caries as a preventable disease. (more…)
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Super for teeth: Australia’s hidden dental crisis
Australians are increasingly raiding retirement savings to fix their teeth. New guidance from AHPRA and the ATO warns against abusive models. What’s really going on – and what should change? (more…)
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Harm reduction is ubiquitous and effective so why doesn’t Australia use it for tobacco?
Harm reduction policies are widespread, and generally work, are safe and cost-effective. (more…)
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Stark contrasts in health of returning hostages
Peter Slezak has been keeping a watching brief on the both harrowing and joyous scenes as prisoners and hostages from Palestine and Israel were freed this week. He has gathered sources for P&I readers and observes the following. (more…)
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Reclaiming care in the age of AI
Sixty years ago, the patient-doctor interaction was, at its best, about human beings connecting, engaging, listening, observing and caring. (more…)
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Who would be a carer?
Whether because of temporary disability or permanent need, the demand for accessible “holiday” accommodation is growing with our ageing population. (more…)
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Dying in prison
The political predilection for punishment is contributing to yet another stressor on prisons. As Australia’s prison population ages, so, too, do inmates risk dying inside. (more…)
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Australia faces a looming crisis of older women retiring in poverty. Here’s what we can do
Australia faces a serious challenge. Despite important progress on gender equality over recent decades, a looming crisis now threatens the economic security of older women. Without urgent and bold action, we risk consigning further generations of women to poverty in retirement. (more…)
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The malignant minds taking over the American health sector
“He enjoyed showing people how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks.” It was a striking description of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., written by his cousin, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. (more…)
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Bernie and AOC explain how Trump and GOP are about to double insurance premiums for millions of Americans
“This messaging is approximately 142 times better,” said one political observer, “than Democrats are getting from leadership.” (more…)
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States increase pressure on Commonwealth to address hospital cost increases
Hark back to December 2023. National Cabinet endorsed a historic agreement setting the parameters for future Commonwealth-state sharing of public hospital costs over the next decade. (more…)
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Australia’s mental health services are buckling due to rising demand, staff shortages and patient violence
Interventions such as formal support systems are needed for Australia’s exhausted, overwhelmed mental health nurses. (more…)
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What should Australian Governments do about ‘mental health’?
Along with climate change and ecological damage, Australians face an equally important challenge of exposure to stressful social conditions leading to declining psychological health for millions. (more…)
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How AI-based eye scans can detect high blood sugar, heart disease
Retinal scans, aided by artificial intelligence, may soon offer doctors a simple, non-invasive way to detect several medical conditions. (more…)
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Interview that described the hell Gaza has become
I am sure I am not the only person who stopped what she was doing early on Tuesday morning to listen the most anguished interview I have ever heard on radio. (more…)
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Government is planning hardship for older Australians living at home
Aged care has again been in the media for all the wrong reasons. Two failures are attracting particular attention. (more…)
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1 in 3 Australians in their late 60s are still working, new HILDA survey shows
Australia has seen a dramatic transformation of retirement over the past 20 years, with more Australians delaying retirement than ever before, reshaping expectations for later life. (more…)
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Fewer friends, more time stress: the essential charts from this year’s HILDA survey
Every year, one of Australia’s biggest longitudinal surveys provides a range of insights on how the nation is changing. (more…)
