Melbourne Children’s Global Health Forum
12.30pm-1.30pm (AEST) Monday 15 June via Zoom
Climate change and global child health: Dr Karen Kiang
Dr Karen Kiang is currently an Advanced Trainee in General Paediatrics. Initially training in paediatrics and adult medicine in the USA, she has previously worked in public health at the CDC. Her interest has always been in international child health, and it was here where her interest in climate change and child health begun. Since reloacting to Australia in 2004 , she has been very active in the international child health and refugee/asylum seeker health space. She is an active member of both Doctors for the Environment Australia and the RACP Climate Change and Health Reference Group
Pandemics and zoonoses: joining the dots between humans, animals and the natural world: Associate Professor Katherine Barraclough
Katherine Barraclough is a Consultant Nephrologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and an Associate Professor with the School of Medicine, University of Melbourne. She has a particular interest in the intersection between human and environmental health. She is a Board member and Victorian Chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), an organisation that advocates to protect health through care for our natural environment and to address the diseases caused by damage to it. She also chairs of the Australia New Zealand Society of Nephrology Green Nephrology Special Interest Group which seeks to address both the impact of environmental change on kidney health and disease and the environmental impact of kidney care delivery.
MCGH Global Health Fellow 2021 – Register Interest
Melbourne Children’s Global Health aims to reduce inequity and improve child and adolescent health in disadvantaged populations globally. Equity is a core principle in global health and a central component of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our work aims to contribute to the SDGs, specifically SDG 3 to achieve good health and wellbeing for all children and adolescents.
The Global Health Fellowship will be offered to an advanced trainee in paediatrics, and this position may be accredited in accordance with training requirements of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (or equivalent). The Fellow will undertake a program of supervised research in a priority area for global health. Example projects are available online here.
Qualifications required
- Tertiary qualification in MBBS or related discipline, plus an appropriate level of expertise gained from a combination of experience, training or professional accreditation
- Completed basic training in Paediatrics (RACP or equivalent)
- Medical registration in Victoria (or eligible for medical registration in Victoria)
- Experience and interest in research related to global child health issues
This position is 1.0EFT 12 months (fixed-term) commencing in February 2020. To register your interest in being notified when applications open email Program Manager, Global Health global.health@mcri.edu.au
This position is generously supported by the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
MCGH on the global STAGE
Professor George Patton and Professor Trevor Duke have been appointed members of the World Health Organization Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE). The STAGE reports to the WHO Director General, providing strategic and technical advice on matters relating to Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health, and Nutrition (MNCAH&N) and will inform the WHO Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agendas.
The initiative was formally launched on 30 April and 1 May 2020. For more information: https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/stage/en/
Melbourne Children’s Global Health COVID-19 Research
SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant women and their infants: multi-site study in LMICs
There is almost a complete lack of data on the direct and indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy, especially in low- and middle income settings. We expect that infection with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy is a risk factor for poor health outcomes for pregnant women and their newborns and that this risk is highest for women with diabetes and undernutrition. To describe these health outcomes during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic we will undertake a prospective cohort study of pregnant women in Fiji, with other sites to follow.
The aims of this new study are to determine if infection with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy is a risk factor for poor perinatal outcomes; quantify the risk for pregnant women with maternal diabetes; further understand immunological responses to SARS-CoV-2 in pregnancy; and describe how common domestic violence is during the epidemic.
Collaborators: MCRI, The University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services
Contact: Professor Fiona Russell, The University of Melbourne and MCRI
COVID-19 Resources
Melbourne Children’s Global Health is a member of the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition. The Coalition aims to accelerate COVID-19 research in low- and middle-income countries.
Melbourne Children’s Global Health has contributed to the Global Health Alliance Australia’s response to the Senate Select Committee to inquire into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has also opened a new Inquiry into the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Australia’s foreign affairs, defence and trade. Read more about the Australian Government’s COVID-19 response here Partnerships for Recovery — Australia’s COVID-19 Development Response
Melbourne Children’s Global Health responded to the USA decision to suspend funding for the World Health Organization as part of the Australian Network of WHO Collaborating Centres. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease the Union also issued a statement on the announcement.
Trevor Duke, Mike English, Susanne Carai and Shamim Qazi, Paediatric care in the time of COVID-19 in countries with under-resourced healthcare systems. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 18 May 2020.
Salahuddin Ahmed, Tisungane Mvalo, Samuel Akech, et al. Protecting children in low-income and middle-income countries from COVID-19. BMJ Global Health 2020;5:e002844.
COVID-19 R&D TRACKER Policy Cures
COVID-19 kids research evidence update The University of Melbourne
Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on children United Nations
COVID-19 Coronavirus Online Course FutureLearn London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Mother and Newborn Essentials for COVID-19 International Paediatric Association
Events: Evaluating the use of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage surveillance among hospitalised children to monitor pneumococcal vaccine impact in low-income countries
9.30am-10.30am Tuesday 9 June 2020 via Zoom Add to your calendar
Completion seminar Dr Jocelyn Chan
Join from PC, Mac, iOS or Android: https://unimelb.zoom.us/j/91565355355
Or join by phone: Meeting ID: 915 6535 5355
International numbers available: https://unimelb.zoom.us/u/aTSBo6Rur
Courses: Global Adolescent Health, The University of Melbourne
Free Online Course 1 June 2020
This course will explore the dynamic factors affecting the health and wellbeing of young people around the world, and how important it is for individuals, communities and nations that we improve the health and life chances of this important population group.
With over 25% of the world’s population aged between 10 and 24 years, today’s generation of young people is the largest in human history. As the future leaders and drivers of growth, productivity and innovation, young people are our greatest assets, and investment in their health and wellbeing has social, economic and other benefits that continue across the lifespan and into the next generation.
In this course we will adopt a life-course framework to take a holistic view of youth health and wellbeing. We will explore changing patterns of adolescent health and development, including why adolescence is starting earlier and ending later; how puberty and adolescent brain development may shape future health; and how what happens in adolescence can affect the start to life for the next generation. We’ll also look at the major health and social issues affecting young people and ways of addressing these through policy, practice and programming.
Enrol here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/youth-health
Publications
World TB Day: In recognition of World TB Day on Wednesday 24 March 2020, we wanted to highlight a recent systematic review that found that the risk of developing tuberculosis among exposed infants and young children is very high. Most cases occurred within weeks of contact investigation initiation and might not be preventable through prophylaxis. This suggests that alternative strategies for prevention are needed, such as earlier initiation of preventive therapy through rapid diagnosis of adult cases or community-wide screening approaches.
Leonardo Martinez, Olivia Cords, Prof C Robert Horsburgh, Jason R Andrews, Pediatric TB Contact Studies Consortium*. The risk of tuberculosis in children after close exposure: a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis. The Lancet. Mar 2020. 395;10228.
*Professor Steve Graham is part of the Pediatric TB Contact Studies Consortium.
Yanhui Dong, Liping Wang, David P Burgner, Jessica E Miller, Yi Song, Xiang Ren,
Zhongjie Li, Yi Xing, Jun Ma, Susan M Sawyer, George C Patton, Infectious diseases in children and adolescents in China: analysis of national surveillance data from 2008 to 2017. BMJ Apr 2020. 369:m1043.
WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, ‘Fiji’ Neglected Tropical Diseases Newsletter Issue 11. July to December 2019.
Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) launched a themed issue on Sustainable Healthcare May 2020. This is the first in a series of Planetary Health Dialogues.