Good Will Hunters

Welcome to Episode 5 of Good Will Hunters, in our new series on SDG 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing.

Now firstly - I have to apologise. I promised you an episode on each of the SD3 targets, however we are skipping SDG3.5 on substance abuse. We just couldn’t find a great guest for the episode and the show must go on. However, I am very open to doing the episode at a later date, so if you work in substance abuse internationally, particularly in the Pacific, and would like to chat, get in touch.

With that, today we move onto SDG3.6 - which it may surprise you to learn, relates to road accidents. I am speaking to Rob McInerney. Rob is Chief Executive Officer for the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), a registered charity with the vision for a world free of high-risk roads. 

With RAP projects and programmes now active in over 100 countries worldwide, Rob works closely with key development bank, political and technical leaders from each country to build local capacity and deliver large scale and long-term road safety benefits through the provision of safer road infrastructure. Of all our episodes this series, this one surprised me the most. I’ll leave you to find out why. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 4 of Good Will Hunters, in our new series on SDG 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing.

So far in the series, we’ve looked at maternal and child health and infectious diseases. The response to the series has been enormous - last week I appeared on Radio New Zealand talking about the unacceptably high rates of child mortality in Kiribati. This series was designed to raise attention to the fact that we are not on track to meeting SDG3, and we must take urgent action.

Today I am talking to Dr Rosemary Wyber about SDG 3.4, which relates to non-communicable diseases. Non-comunicable diseases, also known as chronic diseases, are not passed from person to person. This includes heart diseases, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease. For those that follow me on LinkedIn, you would know I have spent a part of this year working in Timor-Leste on strengthening the local cardiology workforce, in response too extremely high rates of rheumatic heart disease. Hence, I wanted to focus today’s episode on heart disease, and who better to speak to than Dr Rosemary Wyber.

Rosemary is a General Practitioner, and also holds a Masters of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health general practice training in Aboriginal Community Controlled Clinics in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Dr Wyber’s doctoral research focused on rheumatic heart disease in Australia and internationally. She was the lead author of the RHD Endgame Strategy to eliminate RHD in Australia. Her postdoctoral research continues to address RHD and broader heart health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In this episode, we talk about what rheumatic heart disease is, how it is managed, and how health systems can better address it.

Welcome to Episode 3 of Good Will Hunters, in our new series on SDG 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing.

In our previous episode, we looked at infant and child mortality in Kiribati. The wonderful folks at the Devpolicy Blog published an article on the episode if you’d like to check it out.

If you’ve listened to our first two episodes, you’ve probably seen a theme beginning to emerge. We are, in no way, shape or form, on track to achieving SDG3.

We are falling behind on all targets, and many of our neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region are feeling it most. We should be concerned. But we should also be encouraged by the immense capability that exists, both in Australia and amongst our neighbours, to solve many of the public health challenges we face.

Today’s guest is a great example of someone with extraordinary vision and capability. In this episode, I speak to Professor Brendan Crabb, Director and CEO of the Burnet Institute, about SDG3.3, on ending epidemics of infectious diseases.

In this episode we talk about malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, neglected tropical diseases AND covid-19. We also talk about Australia’s support for the region and leveraging our immense resources in health research and development. As well as being Director and CEO of Burnet, Brendan is President of both the Australian Global Health Alliance and the Pacific Friends of Global Health, bodies that advocate for better health equity.

Welcome to Episode 2 of our SDG3 series.

In this series, we’ll be going through each of the targets of SDG3. In our previous episode, we looked at maternal mortality, and specifically some exciting work happening right here in Australia to developed inhaled oxytocin, to help prevent postpartum hemorraghe, which is one of the leading causes of maternal death. We also heard about the importance of connectivity and support networks for nurses and health workers in remote areas, dealing with often complex pregnancies and births.


Today we move onto SDG3.2, which is ‘by 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births'.

Today’s episode is very special - you’ll be hearing from the Kiribati’s Honourable Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Tinte Itinteang, along with members of his team and partners. Kiribati has one of the highest rates of Under 5 Mortality in the Pacific, second to Papua New Guinea. Despite decades of programs and partnerships, the dial has not shifted enough.

The Honourable Minister and his team are embarking upon a new program - it is the Child Community Nursing Outreach Program or CCNOP. It’s a first of its kind program in Kiribati - and that’s all I’m going to tell you. You’ll have to listen to hear more. You’ll hear lots of different people speaking in this interview, I have listed all of their names in the show notes. This interview left me both saddened by the unacceptably high rates of child and infant mortality in Kiribati, but also extremely buoyed by the skill, passion and vision of the team who I had the honour of speaking to.

The first voice you’ll hear is that of the Honourable Minister - I hope you enjoy.

Following the Honourable Minister, you will hear from Sister Christine Otai. Christine is Adara’s Senior Newborn Advisor, based in Uganda. She contributes to the improvement of newborn health in Uganda through training, mentoring and coaching.

Christine worked at Kiwoko Hospital for 28 years. For nine of these years, she worked as In-Charge of the Kiwoko Hospital maternity ward. For 18 years she worked as In-Charge of the Kiwoko neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

In 2010, Christine was honoured with the International Neonatal Award for Excellence. In 2021, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Heroes in Health Awards. She has also been recognised as a newborn health champion by the Ugandan Ministry of Health.

SDG3.1 - Reducing Maternal Mortality, with Prof. Michelle McIntosh and Cherolyn Polomon by Good Will Hunters

This 10th and final episode of A little Less Conversation is one that is both reflective and future facing. If you’re looking to know more about the outcomes achieved at COP28, the architecture of the loss and damage fund and Australia’s climate finance ambitions and commitments more generally, you’ve come to the right place.

Jess Mackenzie chats with David Higgins, the branch head of international net zero pathways, within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water - Home - DCCEEW

Department of Foreign Affairs - Homepage | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (dfat.gov.au)

Transitional Committee, UNFCCC - Transitional Committee | UNFCCC

World bank - World Bank Group - International Development, Poverty, & Sustainability

COP28 - COP28 UAE - United Nations Climate Change Conference

UNFCCC - UNFCCC

The Pacific Resilience Facility - PRF-Brochure.pdf (forumsec.org)

International Monetary Fund - International Monetary Fund - IMF

AOSIS: Alliance of Small island States - AOSIS – Alliance of Small Island States

South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) - Home | Pacific Environment (sprep.org)

Green Climate Fund (GCF) - Homepage | Green Climate Fund

International Development Association (IDA) - International Development Association - World Bank

The Pacific island Forum (PIF) - The Pacific Islands Forum – Pacific Islands Forum (forumsec.org)

Climate change is impacting society in a myriad of ways, yet some groups are experiencing these impacts disproportionately. In this episode we take a deep dive into gender, youth and elders in the Pacific; How are they experiencing climate change? What are their priorities? and What does effective climate leadership look like?

In this episode, we are joined by Carolyn Kitione, a youth leader and learning coordinator with Shifting the Power Coalition.

Shifting the Power Coalition - Shifting the Power Coalition - ActionAid Australia

Transcend Oceania - Transcend Oceania – There is no other way to peace Justpeace is the way

Action Aid Vanuatu - ActionAid Vanuatu - ActionAid Australia

Australia Pacific Climate Partnership - Pacific regional – climate change and resilience | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (dfat.gov.au)

Pacific Conference of Churches - Home - Pacific Conference of Churches

In a short time in the federal Parliament, Senator David Pocock has made a name for himself as someone willing to speak out on the big issues on behalf of the people most affected. These include taking on the Government over fossil fuels, climate change and other issues including cost of living.

In this episode of A Little Less Conversation, Rachel and Dermot chat to Senator Pocock about his advocacy on climate change and his profound commitment to the Pacific, how his experiences through professional sport helped shape his worldview, and his own NGO, Rangelands Regeneration.

https://www.davidpocock.com.au/

Rangelands Regeneration https://rangelandsregeneration.org/

Young people Duty of Care bill https://adutyofcare.davidpocock.com.au/

Australia Institute speech https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/australia-must-lead-the-world-on-climate-integrity-senator-david-pocock/

Port vila call https://fossilfueltreaty.org/port-vila-call

Climate change could be a political football, easily booted from agency to agency, if there was no true will to progress the agenda. It is true that climate falls under the remit of a number of government agencies – but thankfully, there is the will to ensure it is divided up carefully and with thought. Howard Bamsey, who has spent much of his career as a diplomat and in climate change, joins the podcast to tell Rachel and Dermot all about the architecture of climate governance.

Adaptation and mitigation are two terms commonly used in connection with how to approach responses to climate change: do we spend our energies trying to address the root causes of climate change, or do we work on strategies to help us adapt?

In this episode, Sala George Carter of the Australian National University and climate change activist Lisa Viliamu Jameson join us to discuss the twin approaches.

Torres Strait Islands Our Islands Our Home campaign: https://ourislandsourhome.com.au

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Program https://www.sprep.org

CROP program - Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific https://www.forumsec.org/council-of-regional-organisations-of-the-pacific

Port Vila Declaration on human rights, good governance and sustainable development: https://hrsd.spc.int/node/821