Singapore will start charging people who choose not to be vaccinated for any COVID-related hospital care. While Australia’s hospitals are also under pressure, we shouldn’t follow suit.
Compared to ten similar countries, Australia does well on equity and health care outcomes. But it still has a way to go on access and how well the health system fits together.
To get to stage C of the plan out of COVID, 80% of adults over 16 need to be vaccinated. But that equates to just under 65% of all Australians – too low to safely open international borders.
If we open up the international borders before enough of the population is vaccinated, hospitals could become overwhelmed and deaths would be unacceptably high.
Sex is not gender but research continues to treat these as the same concept, with potentially damaging consequences for health studies, health policies and health programs.
With enough vaccine supplies coming online from October, the government has no excuse not to have all arrangements in place for an efficient vaccination program. Here’s what needs to change.
A sustainable private health insurance system requires enough young, healthy people paying premiums and not making claims. But government policies haven’t achieved this. Here’s what to try instead.
While the pandemic has focused the world’s attention on how to prevent infectious disease, many of the lessons learned from COVID-19 prevention can also be applied to chronic disease prevention.
A cannabis decriminalization bill approved by the House is a sign from Congress that sentiment around the drug is evolving, but it misses a chance to regulate marijuana for the good of all Americans.
Now the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has been scrapped, there’s a real chance for health to remain on the national agenda. But let’s not repeat mistakes of the past.
Why one city suffers significantly more deaths than another isn’t always obvious. A simple experiment shows how failing to consider certain factors can point policy makers in the wrong direction.
Elective surgeries have been halted as part of the health system’s response to coronavirus. But many are unnecessary and shouldn’t be rescheduled after the pandemic ends.
As a nation with a strong religious sentiment, Indonesia could rely on its religious leaders to be more involved in communicating messages about the crisis.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne