Health Awareness
Will the battle for full immunisation coverage be won & lost on Twitter?
Barely a day goes by without an Australian media outlet publishing a story about vaccination. Just last week, we discussed on the VIVA! blog how Brisbane’s well-heeled inner city suburbs have recorded some of the lowest vaccination rates in Australia. With the Federal Government proposing in March that State and Territory governments should ban unvaccinated…
Read MoreBudget 2017: What it means for Australia’s health
Budget highlights for health: “The Government will establish the Medicare Guarantee Fund to secure the ongoing funding of the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme into the future. “In this Budget, the Government will provide $1.0 billion to reintroduce indexation for certain items on the MBS. This will commence with General Practitioner (GP)…
Read MoreDermatologists debate the use of botulinum toxin in young Australian women
On May 8, 2017, the Australasian College of Dermatologists (ACD) performed a Botox-centred debate at their Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) in Sydney. The debate, involving ACD dermatologists, Dr Adrian Lim and Dr Michael Freeman, focused on the use of Botox in healthy women in their early 20’s. A media release [May 8, 2017] from the…
Read MoreFederal Government promises more funding for vaccination campaigns as research shows parents still worrying
Federal Health Minister, The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, announced this weekend, Saturday April 22, 2017, that the Government would be rolling out a new AUD$5.5m immunisation awareness campaign with the aim of encouraging parents and carers to get their children vaccinated. While general vaccination rates in Australian children are good and range between 90 to…
Read MoreStudy finds increasing healthcare spend not linked to improved health outcomes
Data from a new meta-analysis, has demonstrated that a higher healthcare spend has done little to improve key health outcomes. The authors looked at 65 different studies, conducted between 1965-2014, surrounding healthcare spending and its impact on health outcomes. The study conducted by researchers from Deakin University, titled, The impact of healthcare spending on health…
Read More