Contain This: The Latest in Global Health Security

In the final episode of Contain This this season, we are joined by Australia’s Ambassador for Global Health, Dr Lucas de Toca PSM, and the former Ambassador for Regional Health Security, Dr Stephanie Williams, to reflect on how Australia delivers assistance for health in our region and what they see as the key challenges and priorities. They discuss how Australia’s role in supporting our region to...

In today’s episode of Contain This, we feature the Field Epidemiology in Action (FEiA) program, which trains field epidemiologists in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to strengthen outbreak detection and response through partnership and workforce development. The FEiA program, supported by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, is currently training up to 42 staff in PNG and Solomon Isla...

The Australian Volunteers Program is an Australian Government-funded initiative that supports global volunteering across the Pacific, Asia, and Africa to achieve locally led change and the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this episode of Contain This, we bring you a story of how one Australian volunteer helped to support health outcomes in Vanuatu, working with the Ministry of...

Launched earlier this year, the sixth Global Health 50/50 report focussed for the first time on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the workplace ranging from menstruation, abortion and menopause, to antenatal care and caring responsibilities.  Our guests on this episode are the founders of Global Health 50/50, Professor Sarah Hawkes and Professor Kent Buse. In this episode, we dis...

"I want to know what to do when I get my first period and what changes to expect during puberty, so I feel prepared, assured and confident to manage them.” – Oky user  Girls have important questions about their health, and often they don’t know where to turn to find trusted, culturally sensitive information about their menstrual, sexual and reproductive health. UNICEF’s East Asia and Pacific...

What are ‘bad medicines’? How do they make it onto our shelves? And what is being done to address substandard and falsified medicines in the Indo-Pacific?  In this week’s episode, we delve into the ongoing problem of ‘bad medicines’, otherwise known as substandard and falsified medicines. Our guest is Dr. Paul Huleatt, strategic partnerships and programme implementation lead at the international r...

Our guest this week is Sir Jeremy Farrar, the World Health Organization’s new Chief Scientist, who took up the role earlier this year.   As Chief Scientist, Dr Farrar oversees WHO’s science division, bringing together the best brains in science and innovation from around the world.  Prior to joining WHO, Dr Farrar was the director of the Wellcome Trust, and prior to that he served as the director...

Our guest this week is Carolyn Reynolds, Co-founder of the Pandemic Action Network (PAN).  In this episode we discuss how Carolyn’s involvement in the response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa led her to co-found PAN; and what PAN works to achieve, particularly in the lead up to the high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response later this year.  We also discuss: Some of P...

Welcome to the second part of our insights from the Global Health Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Climate, Health and International Development Seminar. The seminar explored the impacts of climate change and health, its relevance to health policy and programming in the Australian aid program, and how to build climate adaptation into health programs throughout the aid cycl...

The Global Health Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently presented the second of its Health and Development Seminar Series: Climate Change, Health and International Development, supported by the Specialist Health Service (SHS).  The seminar explored the impacts of climate change and health, its relevance to health policy and programming in the Australian aid program, and...

In this week’s episode, we bring you a panel discussion on how the vaccine champions programme has empowered community leaders to advocate for COVID-19 vaccines in Australia, Vietnam, and Fiji.  You will hear from three vaccination experts and leaders who are all involved in an innovative behavioural change programme known as Vaccine Champions, which was developed in Victoria, Australia and has re...

Our guest this week is Dr James Kelley, Team Lead for Malaria and Vector-borne Diseases in the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Regional Office. In honour of World Malaria Day 2023, Dr Kelley describes the status of the epidemic globally and in the Indo-Pacific Region.  We also discuss: Getting the Global Technical Strategy target of reducing global malaria incidence and mortality rates...

Our guest this week is Ms Hang Nguyen, the Vietnam Country Director for MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly Marie Stopes International.  With almost 9000 staff working across 37 countries, MSI works to ensure that reproductive choice is possible through access to advice, contraception, and safe abortion.   Hang has held the position of Vietnam Country Director for MSI for 18 years. She has been rec...

In this second episode of our two-part series on disability and healthy equity, our guest this week is Villaney Remengesau, based in Palau, who is the co-chair of the Pacific Disability Forum. Lany is a dedicated advocate for disability rights and inclusion across the Pacific. She was recently awarded the Disability Pasifika Award – the highest award for a person with a disability who has made a v...

Our guest this week is Dr Amelia Afuhaʻamango Tuʻipulotu, the World Health Organization’s new Chief Nursing Officer.   Dr Amelia was the Kingdom of Tonga’s first female Minister for Health and the first Tongan to receive a Ph. D. in Nursing. Her previous roles also include Chief Nursing Officer of Tonga and Director of Nursing at Vaiola Hospital. Dr Amelia took up her role at the WHO earlier this...

Our guest this week is Darryl Barrett, technical lead for disability with the World Health Organization in Geneva, who joins us to discuss the WHO Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities. The report was released in December 2022, 10 years after the publishing of the World Report on Disability in 2011. An estimated 1.3 billion people (16% of the global population) currently exp...

Our guest this week is Dr Sharon Salmon, technical officer for the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), hosted by the World Health Organization. GOARN is a network of over 250 technical institutions and networks globally that respond to acute public health events with the deployment of staff and resources to affected countries. Dr. Salmon is based at the Western Pacific Regional Off...

We are proud to present the 2022 Annual Ruth Bishop Address. Professor Ruth Bishop AC led a team of researchers to the landmark discovery of rotavirus in 1973, a major breakthrough in tackling one of the most significant causes of infant mortality worldwide. The team’s discovery kick-started the successful 30-year endeavour to develop a rotavirus vaccine. In 2019, the Indo-Pacific Centre for Healt...

This week we continue our analysis of One Health, bringing you a discussion about how One Health approaches are being advanced in the Pacific with Dr Salanieta Taka Saketa. Dr Sala is a Senior Epidemiologist in the public health division of the Pacific community (SPC). We discuss how priorities vary in different Pacific country contexts, the application of One Health to noncommunicable diseases, t...

From the seventh World One Health Congress held earlier this month in Singapore, we bring you this conversation with Dr Osman Dar and Dr Catherine Machalaba, both members of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel. In this episode, we explore what One Health is, approaches in practice, including addressing Nipah virus in Malaysia, how the value of One Health interventions can be measured, finishing...

In this episode we’re joined by a panel of experts from the World Bank to discuss universal health coverage in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.   Panellists: Dr Toomas Palu, Adviser on Global Coordination at the World Bank's Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice (Geneva, Switzerland) Dr Aparnaa Somanathan, Practice Manager for Health, Nutrition and Population for the East Asia Pacif...

This week’s guest is Dr Shubha Nagesh, a medical doctor and a public health physician in India. She is currently the chapter development manager for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at Women in Global Health, where her work focuses on gender transformative leadership. In this episode, we talk about the importance of gender equality to health security, including the disproportionate impact of infec...

Vaccine hesitancy has been a particular challenge for governments and health teams around the world as COVID-19 vaccines have been rolled out. In Papua New Guinea, a country still seeking to embed a system of routine childhood vaccinations, the rollout presented a challenge for the health workforce. Our guest this week is Mr Api Kassman, Executive Director of the National Vaccine Task Force in Pap...

Last month at the Global Health Security Conference in Singapore, Policy Cures Research launched their second edition of the Landscape of Emerging Infectious Disease Research and Development funding report, supported by the Australian Government.  Our guest this week is Dr Paul Barnsley, Senior Analyst at Policy Cures Research, and the lead author of the report, who joins us to talk about its key...

As the global health community continues to examine how prepared we were for a pandemic, this week’s episode asks – how can we move the conversation forward to future resilience, and what systems can be put in place to ensure we can withstand future pandemics? Our guest this week is Professor Mika Salminen, the Director of Health Security at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. We discuss...