REVERSE: Reducing cardiovascular and kidney risk in diabetes
Background
Diabetes is a major public health challenge, causing additional complications across multiple organ systems. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are the leading causes of disability and death in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
In Australia, T2DM prevalence has nearly tripled in recent decades, with around 1.3 million people affected. The condition carries enormous economic and societal costs. T2DM has a major impact in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas like Western Sydney, South-Western Sydney, and regional NSW, where high prevalence and CVD/CKD complications represent major challenges for local health services.
Treatments to slow and prevent the CVD/CKD effects of diabetes exist, but they rely on a health system that can readily identify high-risk patients, implement, and monitor treatment, and coordinate the complex care of such patients. Although proven strategies to delay and prevent the impacts of CVD and CKD in high-risk diabet
Response to Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s Preliminary Position on the Nutrition Information Panel Review
Policy & Practice Report
Pregnancy warnings on alcohol products
Policy & Practice Report
Submission to FSANZ on energy labelling on alcoholic beverages
Policy & Practice Report
DISPENSE calculator
Hello and welcome!
In 2023 the Australian government changed how often you can receive refills of certain medicines including blood pressure medicines. Your doctor can now write prescriptions to allow you to receive 60 days of certain medicines at a time, rather than 30 days of medicine at each refill. This can save money for you and the government. See here for more information.
You may click here to learn more about The DISPENSe trial now or first use the calculator explained below.
This page provides a simple calculator anyone can use to find out the approximate difference in cost between 30 and 60 days refills.
Do you have a concession card? (e.g., Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Veterans' Card) - yes/no
Please list all of your medicines below. It may help to have the medicine boxes in front of you. Type the first few letters of name (trade name or drug name) and then choose from the dropdown list.
Promoting mental health and wellbeing among transgender persons in Delhi NCR using a peer support approach: A mixed method study
BackgroundIn India, transgender individuals face a disproportionate burden of mental illness, yet their mental health remains largely under-researched. Studies have revealed alarming statistics, such as 42.7% of transwomen experiencing moderate to severe depression and 48% suffering from psychiatric disorders. This is in stark contrast to the approximate 14% prevalence among gender conforming individuals. Recognizing mental health as a global priority, the United Nations has emphasized addressing mental illness as crucial for sustainable development.AimsOur project aims to address this pressing issue by conducting a preliminary evaluation of a peer support model tailored to the needs of transgender individuals in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. We seek to explore the effects of this model on anxiety, depression, suicide/self-harm rates, and overall psychological wellbeing. Additionally, we aim to assess the acceptability of the peer support approach and identify factors that facilitate or impede i
Evidence library
Please find below a list of the key publications supporting the case for potassium-enriched salt. For a more comprehensive list, click here or to return to the main page click here.
Trials
Effect of Salt Substitution on Cardiovascular Events and Death.New England Journal of Medicine, 2021https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2105675
Salt substitution and salt-supply restriction for lowering blood pressure in elderly care facilities: a cluster-randomized trial.Nature Medicine, 2023https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02286-8
Effects of salt substitutes on clinical outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Heart 2022https://heart.bmj.com/content/108/20/1608.long
Effects of a reduced-sodium added-potassium salt substitute on blood pressure in rural Indian hypertensive patients: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trialThe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2021https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522003185
Impact story - Sravanthi's story
Sravanthi's story
Sravanthi lost her first baby in the eight month of pregnancy due to pre-eclampsia. When she became pregnant again, she was enrolled in the SMARThealth Pregnancy program. This time, an ASHA worker diagnosed her high blood pressure and helped her manage her condition through to the birth of her baby boy.
“My health improved, my blood pressure stabilised, and I was able to carry the pregnancy to term. I feel much better now, both physically and mentally. I no longer live in fear.By: SravanthiSMARThealth user
Sravanthi's story
Struggling to make a living on low wages and handouts from family members, life got even harder for newly married Sravanthi when she became pregnant for the first time and had to give up her part time job processing tobacco leaves.
During the fifth month of her pregnancy, she started to experience some worrying signs that something was wrong – her legs, face, and whole body swelled up.
"At the hospi
Understanding the effects of extreme heat in pregnancy, the HiP-India project
Background
Pregnant women, particularly those in low- and middle-income countries, are among the most vulnerable populations to climate change. India has experienced a marked rise in the intensity, frequency, and duration of heatwaves over the last half-century, with 2022 and 2024 being the hottest years since 1901.
Extreme heat exposure has been linked to several adverse pregnancy outcomes, including:
Preterm birth
Stillbirth
Gestational diabetes
Small for gestational age babies
Preeclampsia
However, the biological mechanisms linking environmental heat to these outcomes remain poorly understood.
Aim
The Heat in Pregnancy – India (HiP-India) project is a multi-partner coalition of researchers across India and the UK seeking to understand why exposure to extreme heat leads to adverse birth outcomes. This Wellcome Trust-awarded project is a collaborative effort between the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI),
The Resilience Collaborative 2024: Enhancing healthcare worker resilience by co-developing evidence-based solutions for scale (RECONNECTIONS)
BackgroundThe Resilience Collaborative (TRC) is a global learning community that aims to promote healthcare worker resilience, as part of supporting their wellbeing, preventing burnout, improving quality of care in low-resource settings.TRC was launched by the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation in 2021 to support health workers and the organisations that care about them. As part of the TRC’s evolution, The George Institute for Global Health has taken on the role of the host organisation for this global community of practice since May 2023.AimThe goal is to advance equitable quality of care by prioritising the wellbeing and resilience of healthcare workers (HCWs) and the systems they support, through leadership development and capacity building. To advance learning and drive adoption of evidence-based strategies for health worker resilience and sustain the shared ownership and partnership, The George Institute as the host organisation has drafted an impact pathway that addresses effort
The CEDAW Index
The United Nations (UN) treaty body system is a powerful mechanism for promoting human rights. The UN influences government action through monitoring, programs, and country-specific recommendations.
In the context of women’s rights, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) influences government action by periodically reviewing 189 countries every four years. Governments report on their progress ahead of each review, and civil society organisations offer grassroots perspectives to the Committee in the form of ‘shadow reports’ which validate or challenge government narratives.
The problem
A significant challenge limiting the potential of the UN treaty body system is that the CEDAW Committee lacks clarity on the implementation of its recommendations, and their overall effectiveness in achieving health and social outcomes.
Despite its 40-year history, CEDAW lacks a systematic monitoring tool to track implementation. Government
The UHC Accelerator
Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.
The UHC Accelerator was established with the mission of supporting and convening national political champions to accelerate UHC reforms.
We aim to:
Provide mentorship for implementers and change-makers at the national level;
Contribute to the generation and use of rigorous, high-quality research on UHC;
Create safe and trusted spaces for open, provocative dialogue that can directly drive policy form and programme design.
The UHC Accelerator complements other global initiatives by connecting experienced UHC reformers with people who have the power and authority in their countries to accelerate UHC - bringing together those driving health system
