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Articles on Health policy

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Four year-old Ayen Chol died after being attacked by a neighbour’s pit bull cross (AFP PHOTO/William WEST)

Breed blame-game: banning Pit Bulls won’t work

The recent death of four year-old, Ayen Chol from a pit bull attack has again prompted calls to ban the breed. But instead of focusing on a particular breed, or responding to single events as they occur…
If health and water reform are anything to go by, COAG is in for a challenge.

The rocky road to a national disability insurance scheme

The stakes are high for today’s Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting in Canberra, as it decides how to respond to the Productivity Commission’s report into disability care and support in Australia…
A test case is slated to challenge Myriad’s claim for breast cancer genetic mutations next February. TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³/Flickr

Patent controversy: don’t let breast cancer gene genie out of the bottle

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has found Myriad Genetics is entitled to patents on two sets human genetic mutations used to predict if women have an increased risk of breast and ovarian…
Federal governments should fund pharmaceutical research and development. AAP

Patent controversy: it’s time Big Pharma took its medicine

Over the last couple of decades, the pharmaceutical industry has come under attack for its perceived shortcomings amid claims that it’s greedy, profiteering nature has caused significant harm. However…
Preventive health is the the biggest loser in the health deal. AAP

Can we now close the book on health reform? Not quite

The deal’s been done and health reform is in the bag. It may not be quite as bold as originally planned by then prime minister Rudd – there’s even been a fair amount of watering down on Julia Gillard’s…
The deal has a narrower focus than the original but still delivers $20 billion of extra funds.

Health agreement diagnosis: ‘watered down but not a total cave in’

Health professionals and patients alike breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced she had struck a final deal with the states to reform the nation’s hospital system…
Home help is much more effective than written instructions from a doctor.

Why home help is the best bang for our health buck

The new Victorian Health Plan 2012-22 offers a bleak prognosis: forever rising medical costs, doctors in the wrong places, hospitals overwhelmed. To make matters worse, it claims that patients can’t be…
The government has made a mistake by not listing pain drug Targin on the PBS. J Hawk

Scrimping on pain drugs is bad medicine and worse economics

In an attempt to contain growing health costs, the Australian Government has resisted recommendations to subsidise the pain medication Targin on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule. Not only is this a…
Achieving equity is less about grand gestures than meeting the actual needs of Indigenous Australians. Sorry by butupa/Flickr

Playing number games with Indigenous Australians’ health

The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released its latest report on how much money the Commonwealth and State governments spend on the health of Indigenous Australians. Despite being…
The number of people smoking daily has dropped but 60% of Australian adults are now overwight or obese, a government study found. Flickr

Over 60% Australian adults now overweight or obese

Over 60% of Australian adults are now overweight or obese, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The report, Key indicators of progress for chronic disease…
More data on the effects of alcohol and energy drinks is needed to inform policy. loop oh/Flickr

Alcohol and energy drinks: too early to make bleary-eyed policy calls

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for a ban on the sale of pre-packaged alcoholic energy drinks based on recent research, echoing a similar call for bottle shops to stop selling pre-packaged…
Women who do not go to sleep on their left side on their last night of pregnancy have a doubled risk of late stillbirth compared with women who sleep on their left side, new research shows. Flickr

Sleeping on left side may halve risk of stillbirth

Women who sleep on their left side on their final night of pregnancy could halve the risk of their baby being stillborn compared to women who do not, a new study has found. Sleeping on the left allows…

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