Dear Doctor, how’s your blood pressure?
Concerningly, Australian GPs may be inadvertently placing themselves at increased risk of heart attack and stroke, according to new findings from the GP Health Initiative Report released this week, revealing one in seven (14%) GP respondents are not self-monitoring their blood pressure (BP) each year. According to the Servier-commissioned, quantitative, online survey conducted by Metis…
Celebrating 21 years of protecting Aussie bones in partnership with Healthy Bones Australia
Yesterday, our team at VIVA! Communications had the privilege of partnering with Healthy Bones Australia to celebrate their 21 years of protecting Aussie bones. We coordinated a national news media announcement to mark this significant milestone, and announced the organisation’s new partnership with an Australian company to develop a breakthrough diagnostic fracture prediction tool. We…
First treatment in 10 years PBS listed for Aussies
living with aggressive stomach & oesophageal cancers
Australians living with types of aggressive stomach or oesophageal cancers can now access immunotherapy on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), representing the first treatment advance for many of these patients in a decade. OPDIVO® (nivolumab) in combination with chemotherapy, is now reimbursed as an initial treatment for patients with a type of stomach or oesophageal…
Celebrating two decades of health + wellness communications
Today marks an important milestone in the history of VIVA! Communications. I founded the health + wellness communications agency two decades ago today, after working for a number of multi-national PR agencies in Australia, and in various in-house comms-related roles. Armed with brazen ambition, a passion for health and wellness, an unquenchable thirst for independence,…
9 in 10 Australians with deadly heart valve disease not undergoing treatment
Non-surgical treatment now available on Medicare Of the estimated 66,500 Australians living with aortic stenosis, 9 in 10 are not undergoing treatment each year for the potentially life-threatening disease. However, the inclusion of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) on Medicare from July 1, 2022, is expanding access to the minimally invasive treatment option for all…
Aussie men with advanced prostate cancer denied access to innovative treatment on Medicare
Almost 20,000 Australian men diagnosed each year with prostate cancer are being denied access to an innovative treatment on Medicare for the nation’s most common cancer in men. Two treatment options – low dose rate brachytherapy (LDR-brachytherapy) and external beam radiation therapy – are approved to treat prostate cancer in Australia by the medical regulator,…
The APCO Bone Health QI Tool Kit – Putting a brake on fractures in the world’s most populous & fastest ageing region
An osteoporotic fracture occurs every three seconds worldwide.1 With more than 50 per cent of the world’s hip fractures expected to occur in the Asia Pacific (AP) region over the next two decades,2 the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) has launched a Bone Health QI Tool Kit today(May 24, 2022), to promote quality improvement…
New treatment now PBS listed for Australians living with increasingly prevalent inflammatory oesophagus disease
Experts call for timely diagnosis & treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) The increasingly prevalent, lifelong immune system disease, eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) (e-o-sin-o-FILL-ik-uh-sof-uhJIE-tis) is estimated to affect one in 2,000 Australian adults. EoE occurs when a specific type of white blood cell (eosinophils) builds up in the lining of the oesophagus (tube that connects the mouth…
GLOBALHealthPR launches new identity as
Global Health Marketing & Communications
New brand identity reflects evolution of independent global healthcare network’s capabilities from traditional public relations to integrated media & marketing solutions across more than a dozen disciplines The world’s largest and most robust network of independent healthcare agencies, GLOBALHealthPR, today announced its rebranding to Global Health Marketing & Communications (GHMC). The network’s new identity, which…
Endometriosis Awareness Month – raising awareness and creating change for those living with endometriosis
It is estimated that one in nine Australian women will be diagnosed with endometriosis by the time they reach the age of 44. Endometriosis is a chronic and progressive condition which occurs when tissue similar to the endometrium – the lining of the uterus – grows in other parts of the body, most commonly in…