Prevention Works

Traditionally science is based on the idea that if you work out the causes of a problem, you know how to solve it. But this reductionist view won't work for complex problems. Professor Diane Finegood discusses why we need a more integrative approach to produce the kind of evidence we need.

This episode we're talking about scaling up. That's where you take a program that's worked and bring it to larger populations - a challenge for policy makers all over the world. Why do we struggle with scaling up? Why isn't it consistently handled, why do so many promising projects that could be scaled up die on the vine, and, of course, what can we do to fix it?

Prevention Works visits Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Sydney to meet with Professor Fiona Blyth, who is leading a study into the prevention of chronic pain for the Prevention Centre. Listen to Fiona explain the difference between acute and chronic pain, the massive scale of the problem in Australia, and why primary care is key.

The Cancer Council is the only cancer charity that works across all cancer types and in several ways, from prevention to research, from support to advocacy. Now they're bringing that expertise to bear at the Prevention Centre, partnering with us to reduce the number of deaths from cancer in Australia. In this episode, host Gretchen Miller chats to CEO of Cancer Council Australia, Professor Sanchia...

Dr Chris Nolan used to see all his pregnant mothers with diabetes in a morning. Now, he's swamped. He joins Louise Freebairn to discuss why so many pregnant women are presenting with this dangerous condition, and how dynamic simulation modelling is providing some answers on how to intervene in the ACT.

People with a mental health condition are among the most vulnerable to the risk factors for chronic disease, like smoking, drinking too much and poor nutrition. Professor Jenny Bowman's research is finding ways of protecting both people's physical as well as mental health.

Professors Helena Teede and Louise Baur have spent their careers addressing child obesity from very different perspectives. They chat to host Gretchen Miller about what needs to be done.

ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Paul Kelly discusses the realities of making the case for prevention in this wide-ranging discussion on issues from obesity to pill testing to the nanny state.

With Australia's population set to double by 2050, understanding the public health implications of urban planning is now more important than ever. Gretchen Miller sits down with Australia's leading expert in liveability, Professor Billie Giles-Corti, to talk about how urban planning profoundly influences population health, her ground-breaking National Liveability Study, and whether urban planners,...

One-fifth of Aboriginal people living in urban areas are food insecure, meaning they don't always know where the next meal is coming from. In this episode of Prevention Works, Gretchen Miller sits down with three experts in the field: Dr Sumithra Muthayya, Study Director of SEARCH (Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health); Darryl Wright, CEO of Tharawal Aboriginal Corporatio...

Poor diet is the number one preventable cause of ill health globally. So what can researchers and policy makers do to make the easiest food choice the healthiest? Gretchen Miller talks to Professor Amanda Lee, Senior Adviser with The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, about the work she has done over the last 35 years in nutrition, obesity, Indigenous health and public health policy to answ...

When a lot of Australians think about public health law, they think about the "nanny state". However, we have laws to thank for a lot of the policies we take for granted today, such as gun control, pool fencing regulation, seat belt use and bike helmet legislation. In this episode of Prevention Works, host Gretchen Miller talks to Janani Muhunthan, Research Fellow in Health Economics and Law at th...

Australia is a nation of beautiful beaches and parks, temperate weather and safe streets. And yet, Finnish people are more active in the depths of their cold, dark winter than we are. In this episode, Gretchen Miller sits down with Adrian Bauman, Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney and one of Australia's foremost researchers into physical activity, to ask why our country is so i...