Contain This: The Latest in Global Health Security

In the final episode of Contain This this season, we are joined by Australia’s Ambassador for Global Health, Dr Lucas de Toca PSM, and the former Ambassador for Regional Health Security, Dr Stephanie Williams, to reflect on how Australia delivers assistance for health in our region and what they see as the key challenges and priorities.

They discuss how Australia’s role in supporting our region to build resilient, equitable health systems has changed over the COVID-19 pandemic, the new International Development Policy and other recent changes, and how this will be reflected under the new Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative.

Our speakers on this episode: 

• Dr Lucas de Toca, Australian Ambassador for Global Health
• Dr Stephanie Williams, former Ambassador for Regional Health Security

We encourage you to join the conversation on X at @AmbGlobalHealth.

In today’s episode of Contain This, we feature the Field Epidemiology in Action (FEiA) program, which trains field epidemiologists in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to strengthen outbreak detection and response through partnership and workforce development.

The FEiA program, supported by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, is currently training up to 42 staff in PNG and Solomon Islands to conduct surveillance and implement public health interventions to help health authorities respond more quickly and effectively to disease outbreaks such as COVID-19.

Our guests on this episode: 

• James Flint, an infectious disease epidemiologist and programme manager from the University of Newcastle.
• Adrian Kakayan, a nursing officer based in PNG who has recently completed the FEiA program.

For more information on the FEiA program visit the website, Youtube, and X (formerly Twitter) channels.

We encourage you to join the conversation on X at @AusAmbRHS. 

Launched earlier this year, the sixth Global Health 50/50 report focussed for the first time on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the workplace ranging from menstruation, abortion and menopause, to antenatal care and caring responsibilities. 

Our guests on this episode are the founders of Global Health 50/50, Professor Sarah Hawkes and Professor Kent Buse.

In this episode, we discuss the latest Global Health 50/50 report, its findings, and where Sarah and Kent have seen a shift over the past six years in commitments to equality and the gender responsiveness of global health programmes.

Global Health 50/50 is an independent, evidence-driven initiative to advance action and accountability for gender equality in global health. You can visit their website here: https://globalhealth5050.org/.

Professor Sarah Hawkes is Director of the Centre for Gender and Global Health and Professor of Global Public Health at University College London and Professor Kent Buse is currently Director of the newly established global Healthier Societies Research Program at the George Institute for Global Health, with an appointment at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales.

To read the Global Health 50/50 report visit https://globalhealth5050.org/2023-report/. 

We encourage you to join the conversation on Twitter at @AusAmbRHS.

"I want to know what to do when I get my first period and what changes to expect during puberty, so I feel prepared, assured and confident to manage them.” – Oky user 

Girls have important questions about their health, and often they don’t know where to turn to find trusted, culturally sensitive information about their menstrual, sexual and reproductive health. UNICEF’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Office saw a need to close this gender digital divide and set forth to develop Oky – the world’s first period tracker app for girls and created with girls.

In today’s episode, we speak to Gerda Binder, UNICEF's advisor on gender and technology, about gender equality and digital technology in the region, and how the Oky app is helping to close that divide.

Gerda explains how the idea for the Oky app came about, the co-creation process with girls, their families, and communities, and how the app has been received in pilot countries of Indonesia and Philippines. We also discuss how her team is approaching the rollout of Oky in other countries like Papua New Guinea, where different cultural norms and religions play a part in access to an understanding of menstrual health.

Australia has provided $8 million to UNICEF to support the Oky app in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea.

Find out more about the Oky app here: https://okyapp.info/

We encourage you to join the conversation and follow Australia's Ambassador for Regional Health Security Dr Stephanie Williams at @AusAmbRHS.

What are ‘bad medicines’? How do they make it onto our shelves? And what is being done to address substandard and falsified medicines in the Indo-Pacific? 

In this week’s episode, we delve into the ongoing problem of ‘bad medicines’, otherwise known as substandard and falsified medicines. Our guest is Dr. Paul Huleatt, strategic partnerships and programme implementation lead at the international regulatory branch of the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Based in Singapore, Dr Huleatt works closely with regulators across the Indo-Pacific on a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade-funded regulatory strengthening programme. Paul also acts as the Australian Chair of the Steering Committee for the World Health Organization's Member State Mechanism on substandard and falsified medicines.

In this episode we discuss: 

• what ‘bad medicines’ are, how they are created, and the history of this issue that dates back 100 years 
• the systems that are in place to detect and prevent bad medicines 
• how the Australian Government’s Pacific Medicines Testing Program is working to detect and prevent bad medicines 
• how the Indo-Pacific Regulatory Strengthening Program is building capacity with regulatory authorities in the Indo Pacific and providing regulatory support to countries that don't have regulatory authorities
• what’s next in the fight against substandard and falsified medicines in the Indo-Pacific

You can find out more about the WHO Member State Mechanism on Substandard and Falsified Medical Products here: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MVP-EMP-SAV-2019.04

A link to a news article on the case study in Indonesia that is discussed in the podcast is here: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesia-revokes-firms-fever-syrup-licences-amid-probe-into-150-deaths-2022-10-31/

We encourage you to join the conversation and follow Australia's Ambassador for Regional Health Security Dr Stephanie Williams at @AusAmbRHS.

Our guest this week is Sir Jeremy Farrar, the World Health Organization’s new Chief Scientist, who took up the role earlier this year.  

As Chief Scientist, Dr Farrar oversees WHO’s science division, bringing together the best brains in science and innovation from around the world. 

Prior to joining WHO, Dr Farrar was the director of the Wellcome Trust, and prior to that he served as the director of the Oxford Clinical Research Unit at the hospital for tropical diseases in Vietnam for 17 years.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Dr Farrar’s priorities for the science division at WHO over the next couple of years.
• What he sees as key innovation and research challenges and opportunities for WHO.
• His views on the governance of public good R&D for global health products, how the system could be improved, and the opportunities for WHO to influence that space.

You can read more about WHO’s science division here: https://www.who.int/our-work/science-division

We encourage you to join the conversation at @CentreHealthSec. You can follow Australia's Ambassador for Regional Health Security Dr Stephanie Williams at @AusAmbRHS and Dr Jeremy Farrar at @JeremyFarrar.

Our guest this week is Carolyn Reynolds, Co-founder of the Pandemic Action Network (PAN). 

In this episode we discuss how Carolyn’s involvement in the response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa led her to co-found PAN; and what PAN works to achieve, particularly in the lead up to the high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response later this year. 

We also discuss:

• Some of PAN’s accomplishments responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing future pandemics. 
• The role PAN has played in the creation of The Pandemic Fund. 
• What it means to have a civil society voice for pandemic preparedness.

As well as her work with PAN, Carolyn is also a Global Health Policy Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an expert adviser to the Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, and a Distinguished Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health. She has served as a senior adviser to international organizations, including the Global Financing Facility, World Bank, WHO, and Global Preparedness Monitoring Board.

You can find out more about the Pandemic Action Network here. You can also follow PAN on Twitter at @PandemicAction.

More on the World Bank’s announcement of the first round of funding for The Pandemic Fund is available at this link. 

We encourage you to join the conversation on Twitter at @CentreHealthSec and @AusAmbRHS

You can access the slides from Paul’s presentation here.

We encourage you to join the conversation at @CentreHealthSec. You can also follow Save the Children’s work on Twitter at @SaveChildrenAus and LinkedIn. 

The Global Health Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently presented the second of its Health and Development Seminar Series: Climate Change, Health and International Development, supported by the Specialist Health Service (SHS). 

The seminar explored the impacts of climate change and health, its relevance to health policy and programming in the Australian aid program, and how to build climate adaptation into health programs throughout the aid cycle, from concept and design, to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

In this episode we bring you insights from Professor Kathryn Bowen, who presented on climate change and impacts on health in our region.

Professor Bowen is Deputy Director at Melbourne Climate Futures and Professor with the Environment, Climate and Global Health at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. She was a lead author on the health chapter of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group II, Sixth Assessment Report 2018-2022. Kathryn is an international expert on the science and policy of sustainability (particularly climate change) and health issues, with 20 years’ experience in original public health research, science assessment, capacity development and policy advice.

We encourage you to join the conversation at @CentreHealthSec. You can follow Professor Kathryn Bowen at @kathrynjbowen and Melbourne Climate Futures at @MCFunimelb. More information is also available at unimelb.edu.au/climate and www.linkedin.com/showcase/melbourneclimatefutures