Healthy People, Prosperous Country
 Fulbright Symposium
10-11 July 2008, Adelaide
Attended Libby Kalucy & Ann-Louise Hordacre, PHC RIS
This excellent stimulating symposium was convened by the Department of Public Health at Flinders University and the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH).
As a Fulbright Symposium, both the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the Government of South Australia contributed, with both the Federal and the South Australian Health Ministers present at the opening session together with the USA ambassador.
The Federal Minister, Nicola Roxon, in opening the symposium took the opportunity to announce the formation of the National Indigenous Health Equality Council, which will be chaired by Professor Ian Anderson, research director of the CRCAH.
The Council's first task is to strengthen the indigenous health workforce.
A number of the keynote speakers were drawn from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health and foreshadowed the release of a major report from the World Health Organisation Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health (available at <www.who.int/social_determinants/en>).
The head of the Commission, Sir Michael Marmot demonstrated how improving the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work and age can improve the conditions of all whilst decreasing the gap between the most advantaged and the least advantaged, an admirable goal for all.
Lessons for Australia focused on inequity of circumstance and health for Indigenous Australians and the Federal Government's sometimes misguided attempts to redress this imbalance.
Indigenous leaders and other speakers identified the need to work together as equals, for empowerment of individuals rather than disenfranchisement.
Emerging youth leaders were in attendance and were provided with the opportunity to meet and learn from many of the eminent speakers, and reflect their experience of the symposium back to the delegates.
Peter Mares from Radio National recorded a program for the National Interest with five of the keynote speakers. The wealthy healthy: Wellbeing's social determinants is now available as a podcast: <www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2008/2334121.htm>.
A Global World - practical action for health & wellbeing
 Population Health Congress 2008
6-9 July 2008, Brisbane
Attended by Ellen McIntyre, PHC RIS
This inaugural Population Health Congress was a collaborative event organised by the Australasian Epidemiological Association (AEA), the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (AFPHM), the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) and the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).
The Congress, attended by over 1300 delegates from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia/Pacific, provided an extraordinary networking opportunity for people from a range of population health backgrounds including health promotion, epidemiology, public and environmental health, public health medicine and primary health care.
The Congress aim A Global World – Practical Action for Health and Well-being was structured as three themes:
- Environment and Health
- Social Cohesion, Social Capital and Health
- Food and Health.
Arising from the congress was the following Congress Statement:
We stress the need to recognise that the conditions of the social, built and natural environments are fundamental determinants of the health of populations, now and into the future. The recent emergence of large-scale environmental change, including climate change, underscores the urgent need for the sustaining of population health to be a central criterion of all policy making.
Authors of the highest scoring abstracts were invited to write full papers. Eleven of these are available at <www.populationhealthcongress.org.au/acceptedpapers.html>.
Congress outcomes can be viewed at <www.conferenceco.com.au/PopHealth08/program.html>.
Are you remotely interested?
 The 2008 Mount Isa Remote Health Conference
15-17 August 2008, Mt Isa
Attended by Ellen McIntyre, PHC RIS
This conference kicked off with the Queensland Minister for Health's announcement of a 12 month pilot study of 10 American trained Physician Assistants based in five urban and rural locations (www.cabinet.qld.gov.au/mms/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=59727).
This along with the Physician Assistant courses being developed by the medical schools in both the University of Queensland and James Cook University will hopefully see this profession being rolled out in Australia as one way to address the health workforce shortage.
Keynote speakers heavily involved with Physician Assistants in the US , Professors Ruth Ballwag, Anita Glicken and Steve Turnipseed added greatly to the lively debate about this profession, its development, uptake and success (www.pahx.org).
A key challenge for Australia will be in how we will adapt this profession in Australia and integrate it with other health care professions.
Presentations on the newly World Health Organization (WHO) accredited, Mount Isa Safe Community also attracted much interest. Using the WHO Safe Communities Model, the Mount Isa Safe Community addressed local injury issues to make Mount Isa a safe place to live, work, study, travel and play. Already projects have addressed childhood injury prevention, seniors safety, family violence, substance misuse, and road safety (www.mountisasafecommunity.com.au/).
Topics that featured in other sessions included features of cultural awareness for health care providers, networking for research, raising awareness of health professions in schools, patient perceptions of health care providers, rural procedural practice, effective support for information management groups, and expanding the scope of rural and remote paramedics.
A conference well worth attending. I look forward to the next one in 2010.
Abstracts and presentations are available at <www.micrrh.jcu.edu.au/conferences-workshops/>.
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