News Articles
Mpox cases in Australia surge past 1000
Date of Posting: 18-10-2024
The mpox outbreak has reached its peak in Victoria in line with a national surge to more than 1000 cases in 2024, with some patients ending up in hospital. The state's chief health officer on Friday announced that the number of people with the Read More...
Taxpayers are topping up health fund profits
Date of Posting: 18-10-2024
One state's taxpayers appear to be helping boost the profits of major health insurers amid a stand-off over public hospital bills New analysis released on Friday suggests Australia's four biggest health insurers recorded a post-tax surplus Read More...
Scrap 'onerous' fines for aged care staff
Date of Posting: 18-10-2024
Financial penalties for aged care workers who breach the code of conduct should be scrapped as part of reforms to the sector, unions have urged. The Health Services Union said while the federal government's aged care changes would have penalti Read More...
Workplace hearing damage impacting one in 10 Aussies
Date of Posting: 17-10-2024
Hearing loss from a workplace incident has impacted one in 10 Australians, despite most saying ear protection is not necessary, a report has revealed. Hearing Australia data released on Thursday surveyed more than 1000 people on their experience w Read More...
'Handmaids' protest ahead of abortion vote
Date of Posting: 17-10-2024
Women dressed as handmaids have protested on the steps of the South Australian parliament before a vote on a bill preventing termination of pregnancies from 27 weeks and six days. Liberal MP Ben Hood has introduced a private member's bill in t Read More...
'Invisible, sidelined': landmark count for fatal cancer
Date of Posting: 17-10-2024
Isolated, unsupported and not even counted correctly, people with metastatic breast cancer know they will eventually die from the disease. But landmark research has highlighted the likely true extent of their ranks for the first time, pointing to Read More...
Urgent need: aged care providers' grim reality
Date of Posting: 16-10-2024
A majority of aged-care providers are seriously concerned about how Australia will handle a rapidly maturing population. The Aged and Community Care Providers Association's state of the sector survey released on Wednesday shows seven out of 10 Read More...
One ring to track all? Wearable tech extends its reach
Date of Posting: 16-10-2024
Technology is about to compete for more space on your body, with one tech giant launching jewellery packed with health sensors in Australia. Samsung announced plans to bring its first smart ring to the country on Wednesday, launching the Galaxy Ri Read More...
UK minister says kids' tooth decay levels 'Dickensian'
Date of Posting: 16-10-2024
Tooth decay issues among young children in England are "truly Dickensian," a minister says as he warns there is no overnight fix for dentistry in the United Kingdom. Social Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said the UK government "inher Read More...
'Wonderful move': foreign GPs fast-tracked to plug gap
Date of Posting: 15-10-2024
Overseas doctors will be able to treat Australian patients sooner as a shortage of general practitioners causes wait times to blow out. Qualified medical specialists from Ireland, New Zealand and the UK will be fast-tracked into the workforce afte Read More...
Health insurance 'robbery' to end with mandate to pay
Date of Posting: 15-10-2024
Major private insurers are "robbing" the public health system while recording huge profits, the NSW treasurer says, as he ups the ante to force full payment of hospital bills. Legislation to force health insurers to pay the gazetted rate Read More...
Breast cancer battlers 'blindsided' by divorce
Date of Posting: 14-10-2024
An Australian woman who has gone through breast cancer is a staggering 53 times more likely than average to see her relationship fall apart. The shocking statistic - part of Compare Club's research to uncover the true cost of breast cancer - i Read More...
Greens plan to end menopause treatment horror stories
Date of Posting: 14-10-2024
Cheaper treatments and a national education blitz feature in a Greens election pitch to ease pressure on women experiencing menopause and perimenopause. The struggle to find and afford menopause hormonal therapies (MHT) was a key finding from a pa Read More...
Innovative study suggests exercise therapy can delay knee replacement surgery
Date of Posting: 10-10-2024
A groundbreaking study led by Monash University has revealed that structured education and exercise therapy could serve as cost-effective alternatives to knee replacement surgery for individuals with lower pain levels. This approach not only helps im Read More...
Many young people struggle to work due to mental health
Date of Posting: 10-10-2024
Many young Australians are struggling to enter or stay in the workforce, as a mental health crisis deepens for those under 25. According to Headspace's recent National Youth Mental Health Survey, only one in two 12 to 25-year-olds feels confid Read More...
Pilot's death sparks emergency landing in New York
Date of Posting: 10-10-2024
A pilot on board a Turkish Airlines jetliner travelling from Seattle to Istanbul has blacked out and died, sparking an emergency landing in New York. Pilot İlçehin Pehlivan, 59, lost consciousness at some point after Flight TK204 took Read More...
Indigenous communities pushing back against eye disease
Date of Posting: 10-10-2024
The prevalence of a highly infectious eye disease among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children has declined by 87 per cent, data shows. Active trachoma among Indigenous children aged five to nine from at-risk communities was 1.8 per cent i Read More...
Time for a check-up: hospitals not yet climate ready
Date of Posting: 09-10-2024
Australia's hospitals should switch to safer, cheaper clean energy as part of a nationwide health response to climate change, experts say. An all-electric hospital would use 100 per cent renewable energy - not gas or diesel - for heating, cook Read More...
Not child's play: parents' mental health fears for kids
Date of Posting: 09-10-2024
There has never been a tougher time for young Australians navigating adolescence and early adulthood, with eight of out 10 family members fearing for their mental health. An inaugural survey by national foundation headspace quizzed 2059 family mem Read More...
Bulk-billing incentives can't stop GP visits cost rise
Date of Posting: 08-10-2024
Australians are being charged more for a trip to the doctor, despite a tripling of bulk-billing incentive payments. An annual survey of more than 3000 GPs and GPs in training by the Royal Australian College of GPs shows the average fee for a 20-mi Read More...
Doctor dedicated to Indigenous people's 'genetic story'
Date of Posting: 06-10-2024
Alex Brown was all set to become an engineer when his older sister convinced him to take a different path. While still in high school, Professor Brown went to visit his sister at university where she was studying medicine.[subscribe] "She Read More...
Shame a barrier as many delay help for mental health
Date of Posting: 06-10-2024
More than one in five Australians feel too ashamed to seek professional support for mental health issues, with the cost of living and accessibility of care contributing to some waiting up to a decade before they get help. A recent survey has revea Read More...
Aussie women say they're not educated on contraception
Date of Posting: 04-10-2024
The vast majority of Australian women fear they have insufficient education on contraception despite more than two thirds opting to use some form of birth control. The fresh insight has been released by Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Read More...
Rwanda's Marburg fever deaths rise to 11, source probed
Date of Posting: 04-10-2024
Marburg haemorrhagic fever has killed 11 people in Rwanda, health authorities say, as the country continues to investigate the source of an outbreak first traced among patients in health facilities. There are 36 confirmed cases of the disease that Read More...
Many aged care providers are missing mandatory targets
Date of Posting: 03-10-2024
Mandatory aged-care standards are slipping at some facilities, with peak bodies worried the needs of elderly people are not being met. New federal government data shows just 40 per cent of aged-care providers met mandatory targets for total minute Read More...
More injecting rooms needed as overdose deaths persist
Date of Posting: 03-10-2024
More medically supervised injecting rooms are needed across Melbourne, advocates say, as figures reveal overdose deaths remain at near-record highs. In 2023, 547 Victorians fatally overdosed - three fewer than the state's deadliest year on rec Read More...
Marburg virus feared in Germany as two hospitalised
Date of Posting: 03-10-2024
Two people have been hospitalised with the suspected Marburg virus in Hamburg after at least one returned from treating patients with infectious diseases abroad, German authorities say. The pair are being medically examined under the assumption th Read More...
Vaping flavours that appeal to kids go up in smoke
Date of Posting: 02-10-2024
Vapes will only be available from behind the counter at pharmacies under changes to stop younger generations being hooked on nicotine. Reforms coming into effect from Tuesday will allow people able to buy vapes from chemists without a prescription Read More...
Banning kids from social media could cause greater harm
Date of Posting: 02-10-2024
Banning children from social media wouldn't remove risks to their mental health and could rob them of an important social and emotional lifeline, experts have told a federal inquiry. Representatives from six health organisations including Reac Read More...
Insurers accused of robbing public on hospital costs
Date of Posting: 30-09-2024
Private health insurers are failing to pay their fair share of the bill for public-hospital stays, costing NSW taxpayers $140 million each year, the state government says. But the industry has in turn accused the state of trying to roll out a &quo Read More...
GP visit costs rise despite increase in health funding
Date of Posting: 30-09-2024
Patients are forking out more money to see the GP despite incentive payments for bulk billing being tripled. The Royal Australian College of GPs Health of the Nation survey found one in four doctors are bulk billing more consults after the Albanes Read More...
Rwanda confirms cases of Marburg viral disease
Date of Posting: 29-09-2024
Rwanda has confirmed its first cases of Marburg disease, a viral hemorrhagic fever that can cause death among some patients, the country's health ministry says. It said in a statement that it was investigating to determine the origin of infect Read More...
Weekend warriors may be fighting fit against illness
Date of Posting: 27-09-2024
Exercising only at the weekends is enough to lower the risk of developing more than 200 health conditions, from heart disease and mood disorders to kidney issues and obesity, scientists say. A study of nearly 90,000 adults in the UK found people w Read More...
Local mpox cases surge after global emergency declared
Date of Posting: 27-09-2024
Mpox cases have surged across Australia, swelling from a handful to hundreds in the space of a few months. More than 600 cases have been notified to federal authorities in the current reporting quarter, as of Friday, amid an explosion in the virus Read More...
Union fears LNP govt would remove abortion rights
Date of Posting: 27-09-2024
A Queensland union says a Liberal National Party government would strip women of abortion rights and reproductive healthcare options. But Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has ruled out reviewing the legislation in the first term of his governmen Read More...
Striking nurses to sit down with NSW premier over wages
Date of Posting: 26-09-2024
NSW Premier Chris Minns will wade into an escalating pay dispute with his state's 50,000 nurses and midwives after rebuffing earlier demands to address striking workers. At least 5000 nurses and midwives took to the streets on Tuesday over a r Read More...
'Have faith': boxer put trust in doctors before death
Date of Posting: 26-09-2024
On the way home from hospital for lingering headaches, George Diamond told his dad he was being overprotective and needed to have more faith in the doctors treating him. Two months later, the 18-year-old boxer died at the Alfred Hospital in Melbou Read More...
Sam Neill grateful for rare cancer drug, wonderful care
Date of Posting: 26-09-2024
Sam Neill admits he would not be alive if it weren't for the advancements in medicine to treat cancer. The Jurassic Park actor was in 2022 diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, and underwent chemoth Read More...
Tiny cottage behind a powerful change in rural kids
Date of Posting: 25-09-2024
Next to imposing red-brick classrooms at a rural high school sits a quaint grey house with lush cottage gardens and a rainbow sign by the front door. Once a run-down principal's residence at Narromine High School, west of Dubbo in NSW, the hou Read More...
US to donate one million mpox vaccine doses to Africa
Date of Posting: 25-09-2024
The US will donate one million mpox vaccine doses and at least $US500 million ($A730 million) to African countries to support their response to the latest outbreak, a senior administration official says. United States President Joe Biden will make Read More...
