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 Interna...

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 r...

The Australian Volunteers Program is an Australian Government-funded initiative that supports global volunteering across the Pacific, Asia, and Africa to achieve locally led change and the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.In this episode of Contain This, we bring you a story of how one Australian volunteer helped to support health outcomes in Vanuatu, working with the Ministry of Health in Port Vila, supported by the Australian Volunteers Program. Chris Coles has recently...

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 ...

"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 ...

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...

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...

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.&...

Welcome to the second part of our insights from the Global Health Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Climate, Health and International Development Seminar.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. It was supported by the ...

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 ...