Centre for Health Equity

Despite the government's efforts to defend employment and the economy, the second line of defence needs to be housing - keeping renters and mortgage holders in their homes.

Good hygiene practices are more important than ever with the COVID-19 outbreak, but soap isn’t provided as standard in all schools

The response to COVID-19 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.

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

Dr Jesse Young has been selected as a finalist for 2020 Premier’s Awards for Health and Medical Research in the Public Health Researcher category.

Melissa Willoughby recently published an article in The Conversation on increased risk of violence-related death for women released from prison.

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.

- Professor Lisa Gibbs -- Child and Community Welfare Unit -Professor Lisa Gibbs presented a seminar on the devastating and unprecedented bushfire season.  The seminar was recorded on 22nd January and can be found hereThe Beyond Bushfires: Community Resilience and Recovery research findings were designed to guide disaster resilience policy and services. The social and community factors impacting mental health and resilience in the 3-5 years after the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009 were examined. Specific impacts on children and school communities were also studied. The wide uptake of the findings and recommendations across the emergency sector in Australia and internationally led to funding to return to the study communities in 2019 to understand long term (10 year) recovery profiles.

In 2015 Indigenous Eye Health (IEH) took an iterative, engaging, community-driven process to develop eye health promotion branding, messages and resources focusing on promoting awareness on diabetes eye care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Community consultations were undertaken in selected regions, partly because of their progress in implementing the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision (‘Roadmap’) where eye care service improvements were being implemented.

Indigenous Eye Health (IEH) are pleased to release the next story from the ‘Share Your Story’ initiative - ‘Indigenous eye care pathway mapping of services identifies the level of need in Windorah, Central West Queensland’ which explores the process and outcomes of the Central West Eye Health Mapping Project.The ‘Share Your Story’ initiative aims to share a selection of stories of successful activities and significant achievements in Indigenous eye health by individuals, organisations, regional eye stakeholder groups, and through other collaborations relating to efforts to close the gap for vision.

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

Dr Cathy Vaughan, Centre for Health Equity

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

While employment policy for Australians with disabilities aims to offer choice and control, there are very real barriers that need to be addressed to turn that into a reality.

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.

Voices of Parents from Brockhoff Child Health Program on Vimeo.

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.

Congratulations to all CHE staff who received a MSPGH Awards

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

Bec Bentley and Richard Chenhall

Dr Jesse Young

Alister Thorpe

Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker comments on the office launch of the Return Reconcile Renew website

Australia is on track to close the gap for vision for Indigenous Australians by the end of next year, but this won’t be achieved without ongoing support for long-term solutions.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Eva Alisic from the Evidence and Child Health Unit (Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, Centre for Health Equity) on receiving an ARC Future Fellowship for her research relating to Young people bereaved by domestic homicide.

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.

First author Dr Meghan Bohren

A/Professor Allison Milner*, Dr Meghan Bohren and Dr Rohan Borschmann

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.

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.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of the paper’s lead author, the luminary Allison Milner, whose recent death has left the world a poorer place.

Congratulations to our staff from Centre for Health Equity on achieving promotion to Level C.

Dr Jesse Young was recently awarded a competitive and prestigious NHMRC Emerging Leadership Investigator Grant.

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.

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.

We are looking for people with disabilities to be part of our documentary on work and disability.

Today's the day! The YES survey is now LIVE!

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.

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.

Dr Rohan Borschmann, Senior Research Fellow, Justice Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity with a group of researchers from Monash University, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), University of Western Australia, Melbourne University, Deakin University and the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network have received five million dollars in funding in the recently announced Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Million Minds Mission grant opportunity.

Professor Lynn Gillam---Congratulations to Professor Lynn Gilliam for her Queen's Birthday Honours, announced over the weekend.

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.

If you missed the event, you can listen to the recording or download the transcript.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A new publication examines associations between gender role attitudes and mental health among Australian adolescents.

Indigenous Eye Health (IEH) at the University of Melbourne and co-host Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), are pleased to invite you to register for the Close the Gap for Vision by 2020: Strengthen & Sustain – National Conference 2019 which will be held at the Alice Springs Convention Centre on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 March 2019 in the Northern Territory. This conference is also supported by our partners, Vision 2020 Australia, Optometry Australia and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists

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

The Black Saturday bushfires were a seminal event in our history, with the sheer scale of the disaster exposing a need to improve how we help people on their journey to recovery.

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.

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

There is an obvious need to develop long-term affordable and accessible housing solutions for Australians with disabilities.

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

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

Dr Sharon Huebner (CHE, IHEU) was interviewed along with Professor Len Harrison (WEHI) on their work on different aspects of Indigenous Microbiome research, on RRR FM's Einstein A Go-Go. Listen here. An earlier story on ABC Online is here.

Led by Professor David Preen, The University of Western Australia.Professor Stuart Kinner, Justice Health Unit (CHE) and A/Professor Matthew Spittal, Mental Health Policy and Practice (CMH), (ARC Discovery Projects 2019) – “Improving social and economic outcomes for children of incarcerated mothers” ($427,234.00, 2019-2021) This project aims to identify how children’s experiences of maternal incarceration shape their life course. These children are one of the most vulnerable yet invisible groups in society and are rising in number. This project intends to interrogate system contact with child protection, justice, education and health agencies using a unique linked dataset across 30 years and over three generations, to describe social and economic outcomes and how prison, child and maternal characteristics affect them. The project expects to provide critical evidence that can inform prevention strategies, with the potential to disrupt intergenerational patterns of profound disadvantage and reduce the social and economic costs of maternal incarceration to individuals and society.

Rebecca Bentley is the recipient of two ARC awards.  Please see below:

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.

Jesse Young, Justice Health Unit

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

Professor Stuart Kinner, Justice Health Unit

Professor Kerry Arabena,Indigenous Health Equity Unit

Emma Barnard, Health Humanities and Social Sciences Unit

The National Child and Youth Forum Project Team

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

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.

VIEW THE 2018 ANNUAL UPDATE  REPORTThe 2018 Annual Update on the Implementation of The Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision was launched on Monday 19 November at the 50th Annual Scientific Congress of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists in Adelaide by Shane Mohor, CEO of the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia and Professor Hugh Taylor, Head of Indigenous Eye Health at Melbourne University. Dr Heather Mack, President-Elect of RANZCO hosted the launch.

Modelling Populations as Kinship NetworksJames W.W. Rose

We are looking for a Research Assistant to help us on a new project looking at neighbourhood design and inequalities. Must love Google Maps!

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

CHE Seminar Series 2018

Engaging Australia’s First Peoples in the development of ethics and protocols for a family-based microbiome study and social health history project

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

A pilot study has found girls as young as 11 are seeking cosmetic surgery for their genitals. What's going on?

Following the success of the Close the Gap for Vision by 2020 national conferences in 2017 and 2018, Indigenous Eye Health and co-host Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), are pleased to invite you to save the date for the 2019 national conference.The Close the Gap for Vision by 2020 – National Conference 2019 will be held in Alice Springs, Northern Territory on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 March 2019 at the Alice Springs Convention Centre.

A new ethical toolkit places community engagement at the heart of health research

Karen Block and Merle Spriggs

Karen Block (Evidence and Child Health Unit and Cathy Vaughan, Gender and Women's Health Unit

Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Professor Anne Kavanagh presented the keynote at DARU's Strengthening Disability Advocacy Conference in Melbourne on 14 September 2018.

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

CHE Seminar SeriesWhen: 4:00pm to 6:00pm (1 hours seminar followed by drinks)Venue: Seminar Room 515, 207 Bouverie Street

Dr Rosalind McDougall - one of five top humanities research name by ABC

Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences are seeking health-focused researchers driven by excellence, inspired to impact national and global communities and committed to collaboration to join us now!

Professor Anne Kavanagh has been appointed to the NDIS Independent Advisory Council.

Professor Stuart Kinner recently attended a meeting hosted by ASEAN and UNICEF in Bangkok looking at a Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.  Stuart gave an invited presentation on behalf of Justice Health group on why a focus on the health of these disadvantaged children is important.

Jean McCaughey Oration 2018

We are please to announce that Professor Anne Kavanagh has been appointed to a new Chair in Disability and Health within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, where she will lead the Disability and Health Unit within the Centre for Health Equity.  She will also play a vital role in the soon to be established Melbourne Disability Institute as its Academic Director.

Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker comments in the Age on recognising the King's Domain Resting Place on the National Heritage List.

Congratulations to Professor Anne Kavanagh (Disability/CHE) for being awarded an ARC Linkage Project Grant (administered by the University of New South Wales) - Stewarding thin markets: improving public sector market effectiveness.

By Professor Anne KavanaghThe Conversation

Professor Lisa Gibbs, Dr Allison Milner and Ms Alana Pirrone were recipients at the annual MSPGH Awards Ceremony 2017

Promotion to Professor (Level E)

Blindness is a devastating disability that impacts disproportionately on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but the good news is that some solid progress is being made

Blindness is a devastating disability that impacts disproportionately on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but the good news is that some solid progress is being madePursuit article By Professor Hugh Taylor, University of MelbourneLaureate Professor Hugh Taylor AC

Pursuit article by Andrew Trounson, featuring Associate Professor Lisa Gibbs, Director, Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Dr Rosalind McDougall, The Age, SMH, 31st October 2017 and ABC Breakfast program with Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland

Dr Rosalind McDougall and Professor Lynn Gilliam are featured in the Pursuit article by Kathryn Powley

Indigenous eye health is improving, but more needs to be done.

A new initiative to reduce the incidence of violence against women in the Asia Pacific region will be lead by Dr Kristin Diemer and Dr Cathy Vaughan from University of Melbourne.

Griffth Health Alumni Awards Night - Monday 16th OctoberAllison Milner received one of 5 awards on the night: The Outstanding Higher Degree Research Health Alumnus of the Year Award.

Assoc. Professor Bec Bentley interviewed by Scott Stephens and Waleed Aly on The Minefield, ABC Radio, Wednesday 20 September, 2017.

Meet our Chief investigators

The Indigenous Eye Health group (CHE)

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

CRE in Disability and Health blog in Croakey on the Labor Health Summit - March 30 2017

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.

Most research into teen bullying tends to focus only on the victim. This means we know little about how the bully is affected. A new Australian study shows that teenagers who have been both a victim and a bully are at greatest risk of mental health problems, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

Allison Milner, University of Melbourne; Anne Kavanagh, University of Melbourne, and Belinda Hewitt, University of MelbourneDespite the fact more women are employed than ever before, a gender pay gap is still a reality in Australia. Most recent figures show a pay difference of around 23%, with men earning on average A$26,853 more than women a year.But it’s not just the long-term financial consequences of the pay gap being felt by women. Evidence shows it also impacts on their physical and mental health.

Aaron Reeves, London School of Economics and Political Science; Emma Baker, University of Adelaide, and Rebecca Bentley, University of MelbourneFor many families living on very low incomes who rely on state support to help pay their rent, it’s just got even harder to make ends meet. A new benefits cap was introduced on November 7 in Britain, lowering the maximum amount of social security that families are now able to receive from the government in a single year from £26,000 to £20,000, with a higher rate of £23,000 for those who live in London. This change is not being phased in gradually: it is an immediate reduction that will leave many of the estimated 88,000 affected families struggling to pay their rent.

Belinda Hewitt, University of Melbourne; Anne Kavanagh, University of Melbourne; Lyndall Strazdins, Australian National University, and Zoe Aitken, University of MelbourneAustralian government proposals to end so-called “double dipping” with paid parental leave may scale back health benefits for women who take time off work to care for their babies.

Rebecca Bentley, University of Melbourne; Aaron Reeves, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Emma Baker, University of AdelaideAustralia’s long run of “home ownership for all” appears to have ended. Smashed avocado aside, young people are now much less likely than their parents to ever own their own home. Almost one-third of the nation rents, mainly from private landlords.

Prof Brian Oldenburg's interview for Australian ABC radio about ENCORE program and our research between India and Australia.

Launch of a new series by The Lancet at a high-level scientific event hosted by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, The Lancet, The Government of Germany and The Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations.

A University of Melbourne ethicist is encouraging doctors to recognise the autonomy of parents, even if this could mean “less than optimal” treatment decisions for their children.

Hugh Taylor, University of Melbourne; Emma Stanford, University of Melbourne, and Fiona Lange, University of MelbourneThis article is the first in our three-part series on the blinding, deafening and sometimes deadly conditions in Indigenous Australian children that have little to no impact on their non-Indigenous counterparts. The next two articles will look at rheumatic heart fever and disease; and otitis media.

Emma Baker, University of Adelaide; Andrew Beer, University of South Australia, and Rebecca Bentley, University of MelbourneTruth be told, most Australians live in good housing. This is good news for all of us because our housing is a major determinant of our health and wellbeing. But our very recent research findings, published this month in the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, and the lessons of history tell us this good news story is at risk.

Wendy Stone, Swinburne University of Technology; Emma Baker, University of Adelaide; Liss Ralston, Swinburne University of Technology; Peter Phibbs, University of Sydney, and Rebecca Bentley, University of MelbourneFollowing revelations that more than 300,000 children are living in poverty, the New Zealand government has announced the creation of a ministry for vulnerable children. This should cause Australian leaders to pause and think – how many vulnerable children live in poverty here? And should we be doing something about it?

Australians with Type 2 diabetes are invited to trial a new digital health program to help them stay on top of their condition.

Professor Brian Oldenburg has dedicated his career to understanding how human behaviour can influence the way we manage chronic disease.

International guest, Professor David Stuckler (Oxford University) delivered the McCaughey 10 Year Anniversary Oration on Wednesday 17 February at the Melbourne School of Design.

Living close to a bottle shop, pub or club has a greater impact on health for those in disadvantaged areas compared to people in well-off areas, a new study has found.

Health agencies are closer to eradicating preventable blindness in Indigenous Australians, according to an update on progress released today by the University of Melbourne.

The contributions to health equity and advocacy of Professor Anne Kavanagh, Director of Gender and Women's Health Unit in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health were celebrated recently at the MDHS Faculty Staff Equity and Diversity Awards.

Despite prisoners having some of the highest rates of mental illness and communicable diseases, Medicare exclusions mean that they are rarely able to access appropriate health services before they return to the community.

Senator Fiona Nash announced additional funding to improve and expand eye care services to Indigenous Australians. Professor Hugh Taylor Chair of Indigenous Eye Health has been advocating to close the gap in eye health for decades.

Ex-prisoners with a history of risky drug use, mental illness or poverty are more likely to end up back behind bars, a new University of Melbourne study has revealed. And those who are obese, are chronically ill or have attempted suicide are more likely to remain in the community, the research found.

The First Thousand Days is a global movement addressing child development in the first 1000 days of life from conception to age two. Professor Kerry Arabena, Chair of Indigenous Health, is co-ordinating a comprehensive approach for Indigenous infants and their parents.

Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne have led a community initiative to close the gap in vision loss.