Wellness Update: Australia: "TRAINEE dentists who complete training in the public system will receive $15,000 bonuses

More cash for dental health in Federal Budget | Adelaide Now: "TRAINEE dentists who complete training in the public system will receive $15,000 bonuses.

Describing the $52.6 billion announcement to be unveiled on Tuesday as a 'downpayment' on future reforms, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is pledging further action when the Budget allows.

A national advisory council will be set up to develop dental policy including 'priority areas for consideration in the 2012-13 Budget'.

The new scheme will also target rural and regional areas that suffer from a chronic shortage of dentists, contributing to poor dental health in the bush.

The Prime Minister's promise to the Greens to fix dental care was one of the prices Julia Gillard had to pay to form a government."

Wellness Update:Australia: Alcohol consumption linked to increased cancer risk | HemOncToday

Alcohol consumption linked to increased cancer risk | HemOncToday: "Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking combined have a greater effect on the risk for some cancers. According to the statement, compared with non-smokers and non-drinkers, the risk for mouth and throat cancer is seven times higher among tobacco smokers, six times higher among drinkers and 35 times higher among those who are regular, heavy users of both (more than four alcoholic drinks and 40 or more cigarettes per day).
According to the statement, there is a complex correlation between drinking and body weight and fat. In addition, the evidence linking body fat and risk for the following cancers is convincing: esophagus, pancreas, bowel, breast (in postmenopausal women), endometrial and kidney. There is probable evidence that excess body fat is associated with gallbladder cancer, they wrote.
Evidence supporting low-to-moderate alcohol consumption and reduced coronary heart disease incidence may be flawed, according to the statement. “The putative benefits of moderate alcohol consumption on heart disease appear to be confined to middle-aged and older people,” they wrote.

WELLNESS UPDATE: AUSTRALIA: E-Health | E;ectronic Health Records

E-Health | E;ectronic Health Records: "By July 2012, you will be able to sign up for your own personally controlled electronic health record.

According to the government body established to make this happen - the National E-Health Transition Authority - these new electronic health records will provide secure and timely access to information about your current medications, diagnoses, allergies, immunisations and your health treatment preferences.

Both you and your doctor will be able to access your health record. You can decide which information goes into it, and which health providers can access certain parts of it. If you find incorrect information, you will be able to have it corrected. There will also be scope for you to add information.

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This week, the e-health authority released its 125-page blueprint for the development of electronic records in Australia. Individuals and organisations are being encouraged to provide feedback on the draft concept of operations, relating to the introduction of the proposed system."

AUSTRALIA Top doctor defends disease management

AUSTRALIA Top doctor defends disease management

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AAP

Australia's chief medical officer is defending the handling of the 2009 swine flu pandemic after calls for a new centre for disease control to be set up to better manage such outbreaks.

An infectious diseases conference in Canberra has heard Australia is the only developed country in the world without a separate agency for disease control.

A Public Health Association Australia (PHAA) discussion paper, presented at its three-day conference, argues a new agency is needed to overcome the "lack of national capacity to address communicable disease issues in a strategic manner".

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But Jim Bishop, who will stand down as the country's top doctor in May, says Australia handled the swine flu pandemic well.

He rejected suggestions the response of health authorities was disjointed.

"I don't think it was disjointed at all," Prof Bishop told the conference.

"Our outcomes, compared to Canada and the United Kingdom, and Argentina and Chile when the epidemic was in the southern hemisphere, I think you'd have to say Australia stands up very well.

"Our population fared well, we lost fewer people in intensive care than many comparable countries and had many less hospitalisations."

There were 213 deaths related to swine flu in Australia.

The PHAA discussion paper states that the pandemic "demonstrated that the required resources and leadership far exceeded what was available to the Australian government and the Communicable Disease Network of Australia".

It argues a stand-alone agency would provide "strong, central, expert-driven leadership and coordination of national communicable disease control" including disease surveillance, prevention programs, outbreak management and workforce training.

Prof Bishop refused to buy into the debate about whether Australia would be better off with such an agency.

"I'm not making an argument one way or the other - I'm just producing the facts and then you can have that argument about divvying up the resources," he said.

"Is it better that we support academic development for training and research or is it better ... that we have a government bureaucracy which was then required to do this work."

Another speaker at the conference, Robert Douglas, called on the commonwealth to reinstate $2 million in funding for the Master of Applied Epidemiology program at his Australian National University health centre.

It was crucial because it provided the frontline fighters against infectious diseases in Australia, Prof Douglas said.

"That could be done either by renewing the contract with ANU or transferring the ANU unit to the new National Preventive Health Agency."

© 2011 AAP
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