People with disability are no strangers to risk. The everyday risks and barriers that people with disability face are heightened in health emergencies, disasters and conflict. Covid-19, however, stands out. The virus and response is disrupting all of our lives and creating uncertainty in communities and households across the world. Yet, for people with disability the effects can be wider, deeper and, judging from recent reports, downright sinister at times.

While debate continues between the Indonesian Ministry of Health and researchers in Indonesia and internationally on Indonesia’s capacity to detect and identify coronavirus infections, social media runs hot with various theories. This even includes the spokesperson for the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), who retweeted fake claims that the virus originated as a biological weapon, then deleted them after criticism.It will take time before we know whether Indonesia has been lucky and escaped any infections, or whether there are undetected infections already occurring. In either case, Indonesia’s experience demonstrates the importance of information and communication in the management of infectious disease outbreaks.

This week Chancellery International hosted an official delegation from the Indian Government to further develop the University’s work with India around disability.   The delegation was led by Joint Secretary Tarika Roy from the Department of Empowerment of People with Disability (DEPWD), Government of India.Over the last three years A/Prof Nathan Grills (Nossal Institute) and Prof Bruce Bonyhady (MDI) have developed a strong relationship with the DEPWD.  This led to a bilateral India-Australia MoU being signed on disability during the President of India’s visit in 2018

Investigating people-centred mental health care in Timor-LestePeople-centred approaches to mental health care are a recent influential paradigm in global mental health, and part of broader international efforts towards health system strengthening and sustainable development. People-centred mental health care characterises service users, families and communities as active participants in mental health system development.Despite the increased emphasis placed on people-centred mental health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), until this study, there has been no systematic investigation of the paradigm across sociocultural settings.This mixed-methods study aimed to enhance understanding of people-centred mental health care in the lower-middle income country of Timor-Leste to inform the country’s ongoing mental health system strengthening, and identify implications for the paradigm in other LMICs

The Nossal Institute for Global Health is leading a new project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Australian Centre for Health Security, called Collaboration on One Health Economic Research for Systems (COHERES). COHERES aims to improve collaboration between human and animal health sectors and to use incentive-based regulation to intervene in veterinary markets in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam to improve health security outcomes.The objectives of the project are to:Analyse the supply of veterinary services  (including public/private mix, roles played by various providers and the extent to which key functions needed for One Health are covered)Analyse the public and private demand for veterinary services (including their determinants and how they are changing)Understand regulation of the market (role played by government, identifying strengths and achievements and possible reforms/new initiatives)Engage policy makers in dialogue activities based on the needs of each country.The first meeting of the project was recently held with key project partners from Cambodia including the General Directorate of Animal Health and Production in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Royal University of Agriculture and the National Institute of Public Health.

A five-day short course where participants will engage with the discipline of implementation science, and investigate a range of current theories and approaches to program design.

Setting Up Community Health and Development Programmes in Low and Middle-Income Settings, Fourth Edition, 2019, Edited by Ted Lankester and Nathan J. Grills

The team undertaking research on cervical cancer in Indonesia is currently finalising data collection in our first site - Yogyakarta. Since March 2019 we have collaborated intensively with local hospitals, clinics, CBOs and cancer survivors to develop an in depth understanding of the regional health system response to cervical cancer.This will be extended in 2020 when we move the project to the second site – Jakarta, where we will seek to understand how proximity to the central government and greater health system resourcing also impacts on the cervical cancer response.In addition to our work on the ground in Indonesia, the team has been presenting and collaborating with other cancer researchers in the UK, including co-convening an expert panel at the Association of Social Anthropologists Conference (3-6 September) at the University of East Anglia, and presenting papers at a specialist workshop at the University of Manchester.

Professor Ajay Mahal queries the economics of health sector interventions at various scales.Suppose that an experimental evaluation or a small pilot project demonstrates that a health intervention – say, the training of community health workers in roles that task shift from nurses in rural settings – is highly cost-effective. Can it be assumed that if this intervention were to be replicated ad infinitum in a province or a country, it would yield close to proportionate, or better still, more than proportionate increases in outcomes relative to costs? In other words, is the intervention ‘scalable’?

On December 5 and 6, the Global Health Alliance Australia convened the first WHO Collaborating Centre Forum at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre. This constituted the inaugural activity of the Network for the Australia-Based WHOCCs, a new initiative funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and hosted by the Alliance.65 attendees represented the WHO Collaborating Centres, Australian and Victorian Governments, The University of Hong Kong and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The Forum and Official Launch of the Network was met with great praise and there is now an unprecedented level of goodwill, relationships and momentum towards the evolving Network whilst its prescribed role and planned activities are consolidated. See attached photo of WHOCCs on Day 2.

Estimates of people with a disability in India vary from 2-15% which means that a minimum of 26.8 million people have a disability. In September, representatives from the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MSJ&E), Govt. of India (GOI), Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), New Delhi  and the NOSSAL Institute for Global Health met in Delhi for a 6 day national workshop to finalise the Co-design of a Community Based Inclusive Development (CBID) course.There is an urgent need to recruit and effectively train Indian CBID workers who are equipped with appropriate levels of competency to respond to the needs of people with disability and to assist them in their rehabilitation and inclusion in the community.The course will follow an empirically validated and innovative CBID Competency based framework which will be accredited by the RCI. It will be rolled out across India through RCI’s approved training institutes and the District Disability Rehabilitation Centres.  We wish to thank the Melbourne Disability Institute for their support for this project and associated research.

On Friday 25th October 2019, the Nossal Institute joined the Indonesia Forum in co-convening the one-day symposium Health Security in Indonesia: Interdisciplinary and Regional Perspectives. Three expert panels engaged in an interdisciplinary dialogue on health security in Indonesia looking at current and emerging challenges. Throughout the day the group explored the broader conceptual parameters of health security and its relevance to global health research agendas. Insights from current research in both urban and rural contexts in Indonesia highlighted the complexity of issues faced, and the ways in which societal and environmental transitions are driving both emerging and sustained health security threats in the region. The dialogue involved sharing examples of interdisciplinary research methodologies that engage with health security as a product of the intersections of human and animal health systems, and the natural systems in which these are embedded. Discussions of inequity, and particularly inequities in health system coverage and capacity, were also crucial to conceptualising priorities for research and action seeking to promote health security in the Indonesian context.

Regulation by Competition and Health-Seeking Behavior for Women's and Children's Health Services Among Informal Providers in Bangladesh

Although disproportionately at-risk, people with disability and older people have long been excluded from humanitarian response. While this is starting to change with new commitments, such as the Charter on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, thereis still uncertainty about how best to ensure people with disability and older people are fully included in responses to conflict and disasters.Nossal’s Disability Inclusion team, in partnership with Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund and Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund, are conducting a Gap Analysis on the Inclusion of People with Disability and Older People in Humanitarian Response. Gaps in current evidence will be identified through a comprehensive literature review, interviews with humanitarian professionals, and consultations with people with disability and older people who have experienced a humanitarian response.A range of stakeholders, including Organisations of People with Disability and Older People’s Associations, are contributing to the design and delivery of the Gap Analysis. The findings will inform future research, policy and practice on the inclusion of people with disability and older people in humanitarian response.Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund supports organisations and individuals to identify, nurture and share innovative and scalable solutions to the challenges facing effective humanitarian assistance.

Nossal Institute joined representatives from the International Consortium for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ICSRHR) to brief Dr Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNFPA delegates and Australian parliamentarians in Canberra.  The briefing covered priorities for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Pacific and Asia.

A five-day short course equipping participants with an overview and practical guidelines to address child health issues among disadvantaged populations and in low resources settings.

The Nossal Institute have been working in disability in India for the past 10 years in partnership with the Public Health Foundation of India, CBM India, the Emmanuel Hospital Association and CHGN Uttarakhand Cluster.  This research has utilised the Rapid Assessment of Disability tool and has focussed on researching Community Based Rehabilitation programs and Disabled People’s Organisations. Building on this extensive work, the Nossal, with the support of the Melbourne Disability Institute, was instrumental in the development of an India-Australia bilateral MoU on disability. This was signed in December 2018 when the President of India visited Melbourne.

A five-day short course equipping participants with the skills to critically analyse barriers to participation in contemporary health and development practice, so that they will better understand the imperative and complexity of inclusion.

Disability data clinic hosted following research into the use of the Washington Group questions on disability in development and humanitarian programming.

Launched globally in July, this course will develop skills and confidence in policy makers, managers and clinicians working in health systems to analyse system problems and take decisive, evidence-based actions to strengthen their system.

International evidence on the role of built environments in physical activity and obesity

A Nossal Institute team has been awarded the prestigious 2019 Norman Curry Award for Innovation and Excellence in Educational Programs.

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.

A five-day short course exploring the principles and practice of community-based primary health care with a particular focus on resource-poor settings, whilst also considering the broader influence of primary health care across health systems.

This course examines: the history of HIV & AIDS, epidemiology, science and impact of HIV and AIDS; prevention theory and practice; transmission and vulnerability; policy, law and HIV vulnerability; global advocacy; treatment and care; key populations vulnerable to HIV; and the cultural dimensions of HIV programming.

Implementation and evaluation of digital health interventions for preventing and managing NCDs

Nossal Institute in collaboration with UNICEF and FutureLearn gives global health professionals the skills and confidence through evidence-based research and practical examples to understand the complexity, analyse, and take decisive action to strengthen health systems.

A free public lecture by former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs on the legal right of all Australians to access adequate health services, viewed through the prism of international human rights law and the failure of Australian law to ensure these rights are directly enforceable

This course provides participants with the analytical frameworks to explore the social and political dynamics, institutions and structures that constitute health systems globally.

This course will lead participants through a comprehensive exploration of the principles of partnership and opportunities for collaboration between the health and law enforcement sectors.

The Economic Impact of Non-communicable Diseases on Household Welfare Over Time in China

Two delegations from the Department of Empowerment of People with Disability (DEPwD), Government of India, visited the University in mid-April.  This visit built on the bilateral MoU in disability that the University helped facilitate and was signed during the President of India’s visit in 2018.

The course promotes participant's exploration of the nexus between non communicable diseases and disability, non communicable diseases and infectious diseases, and non communicable diseases within the broader public health and global development agenda.

This course provides a grounding for participants with a background or interest in public health on the normative content and interpretations of the right to health (and supporting rights).

On 28 February 2019, Nossal Institute’s Prof Barbara McPake, Prof Peter Annear, and Katherine Gilbert were in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to meet with several health partners with to discuss their upcoming research on early declaration and effective prevention of illness in poultry in the Mekong region.

On 26-27 February 2019, health leaders from 15 Pacific Island Countries met in Suva with representatives from World Health Organisation (WHO), European Union, World Bank, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Nossal Institute and The Pacific Community (SPC) to discuss subregional collaboration for specialised health care services.

Associate Professor Linda Bennett is leading an Australian Research Council Discovery Project investigating the social and health system factors impacting women living with cervical cancer in Indonesia.

Read about what Nossal's disability inclusion team are currently working on - and also some exciting new collaborations that have started in 2019.

Belinda Spagnoletti, A/Professor Linda Bennett and A/Professor Michelle Kermode from the Nossal Institute, along with Professor Siswanto Wilopo from Gadjah Mada University, have been awarded the Wang Gungwu Prize for the best article published in the journal, Asian Studies Review in 2018.

Professor Ajay Mahal discusses whether there is any value left to the UHC agenda.

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’.

Investigating Determinants of Health Provider Choices to Inform Health Policy Making: Eliciting Patient Preferences through three Condition-Specific Discrete Choice Experiments in Four Indian States

As leaders in international development, Nossal Institute attended the 2019 Australasian Aid Conference at the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra last week.

The Catholic Health Association of India has turned 75, celebrating past and future links with the University of Melbourne.

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.

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.

Development and validation of a method for disaggregating Fiji’s Education Management Information System by disability

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

Dr Gregory Armstrong, a Senior Research Fellow with the Nossal Institute for Global Health, was recently invited to write an article for Lancet Public Health on suicide in India, which he titled ‘Suicide in India: a complex public health tragedy in need of a plan’.

University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell warmly welcomed his excellency Mr Ram Nath Kovind, President of the Republic of India, to the University on Friday afternoon.

The Community Health Global Network - Uttarakhand Cluster recently celebrated 10 years at an event in Dehradun, India.  The chief Guest, Mr Mann (MLA for Uttarakhand) spoke about the importance of the NGO sector working closely with the Government health system.  A/Prof Nathan Grills from the Nossal Institute spoke about the history and effectiveness of working together to bring health care to the margins.

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 Alex Robinson and Dr Liem Nguyen from the Nossal Institute’s Disability Inclusion team recently facilitated a 2 day workshop on disability data for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Bangkok.

On 2 November, Global Health Alliance Melbourne (GLHAM) hosted Dr Brendan Murphy, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, at a member-only HTLV-1 QandA to give interested GLHAM member organisations an update on Australia’s response to HTLV-1.

Registrations are currently open for The University of Melbourne Health Economics Group's (UMHEG) workshop which is being held on Wednesday 14 November 2018. The workshop is an opportunity for members of the UMHEG to share research being undertaken. Attendance is free of charge but registration is required for catering purposes. For more information and to register please click here.

Nossal Institute for Global Health was proud to be involved in the recent Fifth Global Health Systems Research Symposium in the UK.

The Nossal Institute is supporting people with disability in Kiribati gain access to vocational training and skills development to strengthen employment pathways.

Implementing effective community health worker programs to address health disparities among the urban poor in low- and middle-income countries

Nossal Institute for Global Health, in collaboration with UNICEF; facilitated a skills building session on health systems capacity building at the 5th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Liverpool, UK yesterday.

This week Nossal Institute for Global Health is a proud exhibitor at HSR 2018 - the 5th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Liverpool, UK.

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.

On 17 September 2018, Sir Gustav Nossal introduced Dr Jonathan Quick, of Harvard Medical School at the event and discussion related to his book launch, The End of Epidemics.

Prof Ajay Mahal from Nossal Institute delivered the Closing Keynote at the Global Ideas Forum 2018 over the weekend.

In order to plan for, monitor and measure the outcomes of disability-inclusive education, governments need valid, reliable and feasible processes for determining disability among school students and for disability disaggregation of Education Management Information Systems.

Khusela Immunisation Study:Strengthening clinic level immunisation service delivery in Western Cape Province, South Africa

A new ethical toolkit is being developed by Dr Bridget Pratt which helps researchers, community organisations and other partners include communities in setting the agenda of health research projects that impact them.

Nossal is getting ready to host UNICEF staff from across the world in Melbourne to participate in this year's Health Systems Strengthening course.

On 6 October 2017, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons

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.

Nossal Institute led research in Bangladesh has prompted re-thinking how people access assistive products. Fewer people miss out than in previous estimates, but people with the most needs are the least likely to have them addressed.

Nossal Institute’s Disability Inclusion for Health & Development team has been providing high-level technical expertise on national reporting mechanisms for the Incheon Strategy to ‘Make the Right Real’ for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific 2013-2022.

Cultural adaptation of Mental Health First Aid for China

On Monday and Tuesday 28-29 May, the Nossal Institute at the University of Melbourne, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade hosted a visit to Melbourne by Ms Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, Secretary of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) in the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The Secretary was accompanied by Joint Secretary Dr Prabodh Seth.This visit was facilitated by A/Professor Nathan Grills from the Nossal Institute and Professor Bruce Bonyhady from the Melbourne Disability Institute.  It builds on their research in disability in India and is the culmination of a Development-For-All focus at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi.

How to improve the prevention and self-management of type 2 diabetes in real-world settings?

Factors influencing health outcomes and financial wellbeing of patients with drug resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB): a mixed methods study in Punjab, Pakistan

Dissemination of Findings (March 24, India)The project utilises the Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD) to study the The Impact of Disabled People’s Organisations. The  study results were released in Uttarakhand, North India on the 24th March 2018.  Over 120 people, including government officials, the media, DPO members and others with disability, and various NGOs working in disability were represented. There was significant local interest as to the policy implication and the event received widespread media coverage in Uttarakhand, North India.

Community-Led Total Sanitation in Timor-LesteNaomi Francis has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering and Arts with honours in Development Studies from the University of Melbourne. She worked for several years conducting flood studies with engineering consultants BMT WBM. Currently, Naomi combines her studies with water, sanitation and hygiene research consulting in South Asia and the Pacific as well as tutoring and lecturing at the University of Melbourne and RMITIn 2015, around one-third of Timor-Leste’s rural population still did not have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); however, there is sparse research about the nature and outcomes of the many interventions implemented in Timor-Leste to address this.  As part of an NHMRC-funded trial entitled ‘WASH for Worms’, this PhD research explored a WASH program implemented in remote parts of Manufahi Municipality, Timor-Leste with particular focus on the sanitation component which was based on ‘Community-Led Total Sanitation’ (CLTS).

PhD Completion SEMINAR Modern multitasking mamas: Exploring the reproductive experiences, understandings & desires of recently delivered middle class women in Yogyakarta, IndonesiaDate: Friday, 19 January 2018 at 11.30 – 12.30 pmVenue: Arole Room, Nossal Institute for Global Health Level 5, 333 Exhibition Street, CBD

In Vanuatu, people with disabilities are at least twice as likely to be injured during a cyclone than people without disabilities—according to a new report published by the CBM—Nossal Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development.

Between 28 August to 22 September 2017, 85 UNICEF staff participated in a two-week workshop on Health Systems Strengthening (HSS), offered in back-to-back cohorts. This was the final component of a blended learning program that began in May 2017.

The Nossal Institute is delighted to announce that our very own Professor Tilman Ruff and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

How can we strengthen the ‘ethics’ in health systems research?Wednesday 9th August 201712.30- 1.30pmNossal Institute for Global Health, Arole Room, Level 5, 333 Exhibiton Street, Melbourne

Leading international thinkers discuss ambitious international commitments to leaving no-one behind: disability, social inclusion, health and sustainable development.

Analyzing and Potential Solutions for Geographical Inequality in Maternal Health Care Utilization in Indonesia

The Nossal Institute has been awarded a VicHealth Sustainable Development Goals Partnership Grant for the project “Back to two wheels, biking to health-opportunities and challenges in enhancing road safety for smart sharing of bikes in China”. The VicHealth SDG Partnership Grant Round aims to build collaborative research partnerships with the potential to address the impact of global megatrends on specific UN Sustainable Development Goal targets. Arising from the boom of private bike-sharing service in China, this project aims to investigate the opportunities for increasing physical activity and the challenges of ensuring road safety as a means to assist in reducing premature mortality from NCDs and enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanization. More importantly, it offers an opportunity for strengthening inter-sectoral policy development and public-private partnership in health promotion in digital transformation.Prof. Peter Annear, Prof. Barbara McPake and Ph.D candidate Tianxin Pan from the Nossal Institute will work closely with partners from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization China Office. This project will enhance partnership between VicHealth and University of Melbourne, and such collaboration is expected to lead to further activities between UoM and counterparts in China in public health and health promotion.(Source:  Tianxin Pan, Nossal Institute)

On Wednesday 5th April, the Global Health Alliance, based at the Nossal Institute for Global Health, hosted a private briefing for Alliance members with Dr Shin Young-Soo, Regional Director, WHO Office for the Western Pacific and Dr Vivien Lin, Director, Health Systems, WHO, WPRO.

Ageing populations and changing population health trends require a massive scale-up of appropriate rehabilitation services. The Nossal Institute for Global Health recently participated in the historic Rehabilitation 2030: A call to action, held at the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva.

In our region, economies are growing, populations are ageing and the burden of disease is shifting. How can we make health systems more flexible and more sustainable?

A study on the effectiveness of Cambodia's Health Equity Fund program, which subsidises basic health care for the poor, was launched by the Nossal Institute and its partners last month in Phnom Penh.

Health delivery in many low to middle income countries is being compromised by private operators offering poor service by unqualified practitioners at exorbitant cost, according to a new Lancet Series co-edited by the University of Melbourne and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

If Big Tobacco screams you can be sure something is working and Big Tobacco certainly screams about plain packaging

Since 2013, Ms Sally Baker has been advising the Australian Government-funded Vanuatu Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector Strengthening Program in disability inclusion. Sally developed and oversees the implementation of a strategy which addresses the barriers which prevent people with disability from accessing skills development activities such as agriculture and handicraft production training, alongside everyone else.

The state of Manipur in Northeast India has been characterised by the dual public health problems of illicit injecting drug use and consequent HIV and hepatitis C infection for more than two decades. During the month of April, Associate Professor Michelle Kermode from the Nossal Institute and Dr David Jacka from Monash Health were working in Manipur to strengthen the delivery of methadone treatment for people who inject opioid drugs such as heroin.

In March 2016 an exciting International Forum ‘Better Together’ took place in Dehradun, North India. Facilitated and coordinated by Dr Grills of the Nossal Institute, approximately 40 people from eight countries met together to develop improved collaboration, effective networking and translate the current research into effective practice.

WHO commissions the Nossal Institute to teach the economics of health systems in Myanmar

With only one of the Sustainable Development Goals dedicated to health, what does that mean for maternal and newborn health globally?

Researchers give breath of life to critically ill children in developing countries.

Lisa Mamone looks at the tropical disease burden impacting the developing world, and the training that's needed to equip health workers and researchers to tackle it.