The response to COVID-19 is a reminder of the huge capacity of states to improve health outcomes and exposes how our acceptance of suffering on the basis of ‘affordability’ costs lives.

People with a disability often have underlying health conditions that make them more susceptible to serious illness or death if they contract COVID-19. They may also be more at risk of contracting the virus if they have disability workers entering their home.

Dr Rosalind McDougall, Senior Lecturer in Health Ethics, Melbourne School of Population and Global HealthDr Linda Sheahan, Honorary Associate, Sydney Health Ethicsrmcdo@unimelb.edu.au

Leading health and disability researchers from the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney and University of New South Wales are calling for urgent action from State and Federal governments to develop a targeted response to COVID-19 for people with disability, their families and the disability service sector.

The newly-established Scholarship will fund a PhD Candidate to undertake research on workplace mental health, in honour of Allison's workplace suicide prevention research.

Professor Anne Kavanagh is the Flinders University Convocation Medallist 2019.

At the end of 2019, Amal Abikar delivered the valedictorian speech as she graduated with a Masters of Public Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.

When children lose a parent to domestic homicide, committed overwhelmingly by a male perpetrator, the system treats them as just collateral damage. That needs to, and can, change

Anna Scovelle will pursue her PhD full-time thanks to a fully funded NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship, 2020-2023.

What do children really want? After her surprise appearance at our National Child and Youth Forum, Chloe Shorten blogged about the value of child-led research.

A new study of nearly 25,000 schoolkids finds that those exposed to the traumatic 2009 Black Saturday Australian bushfires are more likely to fall behind in their learning years.

The audio installation“Ubiquity – New Perspectives on Traumatic Experiences” will be exhibited11-13 December 2019at The Dax Centre in Melbourne.

Bunmi is in labour with her first child and has just arrived at her local district hospital. She is nervous, and doesn’t know what to expect. Her mother accompanied her to the hospital but is barred from entering the maternity ward. Bunmi is effectively left on her own to go through labour and birth with strangers. During Bunmi’s first interaction with the midwife, she receives an abrupt vaginal examination to check how her labour is progressing. But the midwife doesn’t ask her permission, tell her why she is conducting the exam, or even tell her what she found. She just does it. Bunmi is then moved straight to the delivery room where there are four beds with stirrups and no sheets or curtains. She can see and hear other women pushing their babies out. Her heart races with fear.

The days are getting longer and the weather warmer. This change in season, means many staff and students choose to use the University facilities late into the evening, particularly as exams approach.

The Allison Milner Research Fellowship has been established by the University of Melbourne and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences to honour the legacy of Associate Professor Allison Milner who died suddenly in August 2019.

Free Public Symposium to mark World Food Day – due to popular demand capacity has been increased. Bookings have reopened - but hurry - spaces are limited!

How to make Melbourne more accessible for people with disabilities.

Melbourne is a great city to live in, but it can do better for people with a disability by making it more accessible and inclusive.

It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of our beloved colleague, Associate Professor Allison Milner, and recognise her extraordinary contributions to the University community.

The Garma Festival in Arnhem Land brings together business leaders, politicians, intellectuals and the region’s Yolngu clans for a policy conference on the opportunities and challenges facing Aboriginal people. But it’s much more than that.

After the success of last year’s inaugural Reunion Weekend we are delighted to present this year’s program. Reunion Weekend 2019 will take place on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 November.

George Disney notes that concerns about data privacy are valid particularly in light of the recent Medicare debacle. But there are huge health benefits we could realise if there was improved researcher access to linked data.

George Disney suggests some policy solutions to improve working conditions for all Australians, irrespective of their disability status.

A recent article in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal shows the urgent need for research to maximise smoking cessation success.

MSPGH health economists tell the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System that investing in children's mental health pays off many times over.

Emeritus Professor Anthony Jorm – one of the pioneers of Mental Health First Aid – has spoken on the importance of family, friends and work colleagues, and setting the bar higher for quality treatment, in his submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System.

Associate Professor Nicola Reavley appears before the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System to talk about stigma and mental health literacy.

A West African Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people has helped inspire two courses that aim to minimise the impact of such epidemics globally.

Children can’t sign up to Facebook until age 13 but in Australia they can be prosecuted for a criminal offence at age ten, and that needs to change. Featuring Stuart Kinner, Head of Justice Health Unit, CHE.

Jonathan Liberman, an internationally recognised expert on using the law to advance cancer control, joins the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health in July as Associate Professor in Law and Global Health.

Multiple births have doubled in the last 40 years, but the support and advice provided to families needs to catch up

Launch of a new research program in childhood adversity and mental health

Reconciliation has focused on healing past wrongs but for young and ferocious Indigenous Australia, the future it is about grasping new opportunities for themselves and their communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article contains images and voices of deceased persons.

The theme for this year’s National Reconciliation Week is ‘grounded in truth, walk together with courage’, but to do this requires truth telling. And there are some initiatives and policies in 2019 taking a step in the right direction. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article contains images and voices of deceased persons.

Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker (Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity) was interviewed for ABC TV's 7.30, on the repatriation of Indigenous Australian remains from a German museum. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains images of people who have died.

Housing affordability and security for all Australians is a fundamental issue missing from the federal election campaign – particularly for those with disabilities.

It is widely accepted that the future of scientific development lies in enabling teams made up of people from different countries and disciplines. To do really great work, these often need to be quite big teams.

Whole-genome sequencing is changing the cancer treatment landscape, but we have to understand its use in the real-world to support a more sustainable, affordable health system, writes Prof Maarten Ijzerman in Pursuit.

A study of over 12,000 births suggests that the high rates of low birth weight among Aboriginal babies can be addressed within a generation if we improve maternal health.

Rob Moss and Sheena Sullivan discuss speculation that 2019 could be a severe flu season.

Allison Milner is interviewed on Life Matters about the high unemployment rates for people with a disability and what can be done to change society's attitudes to employing Australians with a disability.

New projects funded focus on employment and disability and developing inclusive spaces for young people in the City of Melbourne.

Women have traditionally been supported by a companion during childbirth, and there is good evidence this benefits both the woman and the baby. The World Health Organisation recommends continuous support for women during childbirth. Yet across the world, initiatives promoting health facilities as the safest place to give birth have not necessarily respected this tradition.

A team of six University of Melbourne graduate students have won this year's Emory Global Health Case Competition.

Biostatisticians Sabine Braat and Karen Lamb explain NNT as a tool to weigh up benefits and harms of a treatment.

At the 2019 Close the Gap in Vision 2020 Conference, delegates unanimously endorsed a declaration urging governments to work together on housing, a key determinant of Indigenous eye health.

The Master of Biostatistics has helped alumni Cattram Nguyen and Mathew Spittal carve out careers quantifying the impact of vaccines on disease, and health practitioner misconduct.

The University of Melbourne's efforts with other institutions to create a skilled workforce of health statisticians have been recognised.

Sonja Firth of the University of Melbourne Bloomberg Data For Health Initiative trains roving armies of health workers in Rwanda and Myanmar to conduct Verbal Autopsies.

Combining law and medicine has created a career for Associate Professor Marie Bismark that focuses on improving patient safety and the wellbeing of practitioners

When money is increasingly tight in healthcare, health economists like Professor Nancy Devlin face the challenge of convincing clinicians and patients that they’re about more than cutting costs

Aboriginal young people know who they are and where they want to go, and we need to use these strengths if we are to close the gap

An international project tackling gender inequality and violence against women is helping the Asia Pacific improve at collecting and measuring that important data

Carers and support workers in disability and aged care are crucial but survey research suggest their working conditions are taking a mental toll.

The Nossal Institute for Global Health and the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne invites applications for a PhD scholar to contribute to a research project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) entitled ‘Biographies of Vulnerability and Resilience: Middle-aged women’s lived experiences of cervical cancer in Indonesia’.

Which test, which treatment? Amanda Pereira-Salgado is connecting real-world data to help oncologists make complex decisions.

You couldn’t by any stretch of the imagination call Carolyn Nickson’s youth misspent, but there were some detours before she felt sure enough to bet on her childhood passion for mathematics.

A new publication led by Tania King shows that adolescents with disability have a higher risk of poor mental health.

In this edited extract of the new book The Change Makers, Professor Marcia Langton tells author Shaun Carney that when you do the right thing at the right time, people will later call you a leader

New study suggests we’ve made only mixed progress in improving the lives of people with disabilities, underscoring the need for better data and monitoring

How suicide prevention literacy varies among construction workers depending on age.

Improving the health of rural and indigenous communities is a challenge for both India and Australia. Join professors Hugh Taylor and Glenn Bowes with Father Dr Thomas Mathew, Fr Dr Thomas Mathew, who leads India's second-largest healthcare provider.

Victorian doctors have the right to conscientiously object if a woman comes to them seeking an abortion – but some are interpreting this as the right to obstruct

Dr Nick Thomson of the Nossal Institute leads a call for the global community to invest in partnerships between security forces and the health sector.

Dr Kirsten Perrett's research has found the rotavirus vaccine may also help prevent type 1 diabetes.

Melbourne nurse Brodie Carter make the life-changing switch to a Master of Public Health after a stint as a midwife in Papua New Guinea.

How do policymakers in Australia and Canada determine eligibility for Disability Income Support (DIS)?

The Nossal Institute's John Tayu Lee has found reducing user charges in low and middle-income countries is linked to better health.

Stressful working conditions are known to be a major risk factor for mental health problems and suicide among men.

It’s a difficult subject, but men in Australia are much more at risk of having suicidal thoughts than women; now, new research looks at what this means for Australian men with a disability.

Prominent UK campaigners George Julian and Chris Hatton on why there are still so many preventable deaths among people with learning difficulties, and what needs to change

Divorce is on the rise among older Australians, and so are STI rates as they start dating again - but it’s not being discussed at the GP (or anywhere else).

Professor Alan Lopez donates the proceeds of his Gairdner award to fund a new grant for emerging global health researchers.

Congratulations to Allison Milner on her promotion to Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne's School of Population and Global Health.

Professor Anne Kavanagh presented the 10th Southgate Institute Oration in Adelaide on 25 October 2018.

Professor Lynn Gillam has recently been awarded the Chairman’s medial at The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH),  The Chairman's Medal is the most prestigious award that can be bestowed by The Royal Children’s Hospital upon a member of staff and recognises exemplary achievement by an individual in her or his chosen field. It commemorates an outstanding contribution to the work and reputation of the RCH, and a significant impact by the individual on the hospital’s vision to be a great children's hospital, leading the way.

Zoe Aitken wins the Centre for Health Equity Award for Best PhD Publication 2018.

Intersectionality expert Professor Olena Hankivsky commences as Chair of Women's Health and Director of the Centre for Health Equity in June 2019.

Three Master of Public Health students will soon be leading projects to prevent child deaths from diarrhoea in Malawi, improve the mental health of earthquake survivors in Indonesia, and raise awareness of safe sex among young people in rural Kenya.

Allison Milner was awarded an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to develop an innovative, Australian-specific multidimensional measure of gender equality.

Professor Anne Kavanagh received an Excellence in Leadership Award from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.

A free public lecture by the Health Minister of the Government of Delhi, The Honourable Shri Satyendra Jain, presented by the Australia India Institute and the Nossal Institute.

Dr Enes Makalic, Dr Karen Donald (Physiotherapy) and Dr Chance Pistoll (General Practice) at the award ceremony.Congratulations to Dr Enes Makalic, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics on being awarded one of three inaugural MDHS Dean’s Fellowships of $10,000 for Learning and Teaching.   Enes is the coordinator of the subject Biostatistics, a core subject in the Master of Public Health.   The Fellowships develop and celebrate excellence in learning and teaching practice and innovation. The Fellowships will provide enhanced professional development opportunities for teaching staff through funding short national or international visits that foster significant and lasting connections with internationally recognised leaders in learning and teaching. Enes will use the Fellowship to visit Professor Joohon Sung at the Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Korea and work with him to develop a new elective subject focused on applied machine learning in public health. The outcomes generated by the Fellowships will enrich the Faculty’s practice, culture and scholarship in innovative learning and teaching, and will showcase the Faculty as a global leader in learning and teaching excellence.

A surprise finding from a major study of chlamydia testing in GPs has led researchers to recommend a renewed focus on better management of this common infection.PhD Candidate, Alaina Vaisey, Dr Sabine Bratt and Professor Jane Hocking

In many countries, birth rates are slowing to more sustainable levels. Professor Peter McDonald says women are the driving force behind the change.

Are you on PPI medication for GERD or heartburn? New research by Dr An Duy Tran has found an association between some popular acid reflux treatments and iron deficiency.

Professorial Fellow John Carlin is one of 37 new Fellows elected to the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AHMS), recognised for their impact on the health and wellbeing of Australians.

“What you’re really telling me is this is an opportunity to legally send poo to the government”. Rose Story from the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics interviews Professor Mark Jenkins for a special episode of Five Things About... Preventing Bowel Cancer.

Professor Margaret Kelaher will lead research on improving cervical cancer outcomes for Aboriginal women in Victoria, via a new Victorian Cancer Agency grant.

Nossal Institute technical advisor Matt Reeve grew up in Karachi and has worked with drug users in Myanmar and semi-nomadic communities in Kenya. He teaches on our Master of Public Health Program.

Dr Giovanni Zurzolo of the Allergy and Lung Health Unit and Professor Katie Allen (MCRI) want food labelling regulations tightened after their study found that some people with allergies had anaphylactic reactions to packaged foods.

Australia’s population policy is about right when it comes to managing ageing, immigration, economic development and the cities and regions, Professor Peter McDonald explains in Pursuit.

Professor Anne Kavanagh has been appointed to the Academy of the Social Sciences (ASSA) in recognition of her distinguished achievements in the social sciences.

Effective cancer services and treatments increasingly depend on high-quality data insights. Professor Maarten IJzerman addresses the challenges at a joint VCCC-MSPGH seminar.

Professor Dallas English and Cancer Council Victoria colleague Brigid Lynch talk to The Conversation about what a new cancer map tells us about risk, mortality and survival.

SBS News visits one of Indonesia’s illegal ‘pasung’ centres and asks Associate Professor Harry Minas about a shift in attitudes to stigma around mental illness, and a push to end the practice.

What happens when children and teenagers lead research into the hot-button issues that affect their health, wellbeing and rights?

Troubling Policy seminar series, Melbourne School of Government. Monday 3 September 2018: Professor Alan Petersen discusses internet-based health and patient activism.

Professor Sandra Eades is working with the NHMRC on a revised road map to Close the Gap in Indigenous Health. She tells Pursuit that Big data analysis is providing a focus for boosting health outcomes from mental distress, chronic disease or just getting a birth certificate.

Dr Tilman Ruff, of the Nossal Institute and Co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), presented the 2018 Deakin Oration.

A life coaching pilot in Victorian Indigenous communities, and better identification of suicide hotspots are among six MSPGH research projects to receive funding in the August 2018 round of National Health and Medical Research Council grants.

A pilot study has found girls as young as 11 are seeking cosmetic surgery for their genitals. What’s going on? Researcher Emma Barnard talks to Pursuit.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a game changer, but the challenge is to make it work across people’s life course, from education and housing, to social participation and employment, Professor Anne Kavanagh tells Pursuit.

Half of the poorer mental health we see in teenagers with a disability is due to bullying, our new research shows.

In light of the newly launched #YouCanTalk campaign, Professor Tony Jorm and Betty Kitchener have commented on the research on talking about suicide as a way of preventing suicide.

Workplace sexual harassment is often seen as organisational, criminal and ethical issue, but rarely a public health issue. Senior Research Fellow Adrienne O'Neil explores why with colleagues in The Lancet, and discusses the results in The Conversation.

Congratulations to Shuai Li, a PhD candidate from Centre for Epidemiology & Biostatistics, on winning the 2018 Picchi Award for Excellence in Cancer Research in the field of Population Health.

Ms You Wu, a graduate from the Health Economics Stream, has received a 2017 Dean's Honours Award.

Reflections on social isolation and the role of community

Research shows the media coverage of the Luke Lazarus trial minimised the victim’s experience while emphasising the adverse effects of the trial on the accused.

Greenland is considered a high-income country that has almost doubled its life expectancy since the 1950s, yet the life expectancy of the country is that of low-income countries - so what are people dying of and why?

In collaboration with researchers at the Shanghai Mental Health Centre, the University of Colombo and Mental Health First Aid International, researchers in the Population Mental Health Group have been awarded NHMRC funding to adapt and trial Mental Health First Aid for China and Sri Lanka.

Recently published research in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry showed the benefits of teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) training.

A recent article published in the American Journal of Cardiology highlighted that patients with single ventricle continue to demand considerable inpatient resources after the staged surgical procedures period, and over 40% of the pediatric hospital costs for single-ventricle patients were estimated to occur after the last planned surgery.

Christmas holidays can be a risky time for both your bank balance and your state of mind, but there is also some research indicating it is a time when you are at higher risk of dying from a heart attack.

The School is delighted to announce a new interdisciplinary PhD Program in Mental Health, which will have its first intake in 2018.

Save the Children and the University of Melbourne are collaborating to achieve generational health improvements among Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Have your say on the Faculty's Green Paper Towards 2027, which marks the final stage before we present our new Strategic Plan.

In hectic hospital emergency rooms communication is critical but often difficult. Part of the answer is cleverly designed spaces for staff to talk in that can help reduce mistakes and stress loads.

Professor Anne Kavanagh shares how changes in her own life led her to question our understanding of the health of those living with a disability.

Data from nearly 14,000 men shows those who strongly identify as self-reliant are more likely to have suicidal thoughts.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is designed to provide access to personalised supports and services for all Australians with a disability. However, the NDIS specifically excludes prisoners.

A recent article published in the International Journal of Epidemiology has shed a light on trends of first authorship in global health research.

Research has linked the Australian Government’s Closing the Gap measures, which reduced the cost of medicines for Indigenous Australians, with a decrease in the rates of hospitalisations for chronic health conditions.

Laws that are meant to protect persons with disabilities in the criminal justice system can lead to detention without an end date.

Video welcome from Professor Shitij Kapur, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.

Professor Alan Lopez says the use of big data can revolutionise global health policy.

A new fellowship dedicated to supporting mid-career leaders in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities over the next two decades was launched by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra on 14 October 2016.