WHO Director General Election
Whoever fills the role, the new WHO director-general has a rocky road ahead At the 70th UN World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 22 to 31 2017, all 194 member countries will vote on the next [...]
Health and Human Rights – Trump U.S. Funding Cuts
Trump funding cut a dangerous and deadly decision Around 830 women and girls die in childbirth each day – cutting funding to UNFPA signals a disturbing disregard for the health and human rights of women Sharon Bessell [...]
Disclosing genetic information to relatives
In late 2015 the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) conducted a public consultation on new draft health privacy guidance resources for health service providers and consumers. The following is a draft of guidance on requirements [...]
Public Health Act 2010 (NSW) Review
The Public Health Act 2010 (NSW) passed Parliament in 2010, with most of the provisions of the Act commencing in 2012. It was enacted following an extensive review of the now repealed Public Health Act 1991. The [...]
Hepatitis C Treatment Affordable on the Australian PBS
In March 2016, the Australian Government listed new generation, direct-acting antiviral medications for Hepatitis C on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This means that ground breaking medicines are accessible and affordable to all people in Australia living [...]
Family Violence
‘Silent victims’: royal commission recommends better protections for child victims of family violence Wendy O'Brien, Deakin University and Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University Among the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence’s most important recommendations is the powerful acknowledgement [...]
Victoria Tables Donor Conception Laws
The Victorian Government has tabled the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment Bill 2015 in parliament this week (25 November 2015) proposing to change the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008. The proposed donor conception laws, if passed, will give rights to people conceived using donated sperm, [...]
Research Report: Health Outcomes and the Rule of Law
The Study: ‘Association of rule of law and health outcomes: an ecological study.’ In a paper published on 29 October 2015 by BMJ Open, Angela Maria Pinzon-Rondon, Amir Attaran, Juan Carlos Botero, and Angela Maria Ruiz-Sternberg report upon a study in [...]
D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics [2015] HCA 35 – Genetic Patents
On 7 October 2015, the High Court of Australia unanimously allowed an appeal from a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia concerning the issue of whether an isolated nucleic acid, coding for a [...]
Donor Conception, Secrecy and the Search for Information
Sonia Allan Over the past 50 years, assisted reproduction using donor sperm (and more recently, eggs and embryos) has been both celebrated – for enabling people to have children – and derided for religious, moral and social [...]