Croakey is closed for summer holidays and will resume publishing in the week of 15 January 2024. In the meantime, we are re-publishing some of our top articles from 2023.
This article was first published on Sunday, March 26, 2023
Alison Barrett took over the reins of Croakey’s rotated @WePublicHealth Twitter account recently to compile a #PublicHealthPlaylist.
With suggestions from public health professionals, the songs on the playlist encompass broad determinants of health including peace, equality, justice, climate action and decolonisation.
Alison Barrett writes:
The Federal Government is progressing its commitment to establishing a national Centre for Disease Control, with the recent publication of a stakeholder consultation report summarising key responses about roles and functions of an #AusCDC.
Seeing many conversations about the Centre in recent months using the acronym #ACDC had us @CroakeyNews wondering “what’s in a name?”
Is Australian Centre for Disease Control the most relevant name?
Will the acronym #ACDC work or will it be confused with the rock band?
The report states that many stakeholders accept the name #ACDC – it “clearly positions the organisation’s role” and is in line with similar Centres overseas.
But, some noted concern that CDC “did not sufficiently signal a preventative health” inclusion.
Other names suggested in the report include:
- Australian Public Health Agency
- Centre for Population Health Protection and Improvement
- Australian Centre for Disease Prevention and Response
- Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
- Australian Centre for Disease Coordination
- Australian Health Protection Centre
What do you think?
Did you submit a suggestion to the consultation?
And, how important is it to get the name right for a national centre aimed at improving “Australia’s response and preparedness for public health emergencies?”
Songs about public health
All of which led us into a discussion about songs and what songs should be included on a #PublicHealthPlaylist.
We’ve seen ‘Highway to Health’ thrown around, with obvious links to #ACDC – what do you think?
See AHPA’s 2021 Playlist in full here.
#PublicHealthPlaylist
Below is a list of all the songs that made the #PublicHealthPlaylist, which you can listen to on Spotify here.
- Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
- Don’t Drink the Water by Dave Matthews Band
- Mother Nature’s Son by The Beatles
- Silicosis is Killin’ Me by Josh White
- Stop the Hatred by MC Jin and Wyclef Jean
- Peace Train by Yusuf/Cat Stevens
- The Horizon Has Been Defeated by Jack Johnson
- Hard Sun by Eddie Vedder
- You Don’t Own Me by Lesley Gore
- Run the World (Girls) by Beyonce
- Bagi-la-m Bargan by Birdz and Fred Leone
- Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil
- January 26 by A.B. Original and Dan Sultan
- You Get What You Give by New Radicals
- Little Things by Ziggy Ramo and Paul Kelly
- The Scientist by Coldplay
- Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
- Blow Up the Pokies by The Whitlams
- Solar Power by Lorde
- Treaty by Yothu Yindi
- Rockin’ in the Free World by Pearl Jam, originally by Neil Young
- You’re the Voice by Mitch Tambo
- Took the Children Away by Archie Roach
- Revolution by The Beatles
- I Am Woman by Helen Reddy
- The Children Came Back by Briggs, Gurrumul and Dewayne Everett-smith
- Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley & The Wailers
- Fight The Power by Public Enemy
- Move by Baker Boy
- Homecoming Queen by Thelma Plum
- Feels Like Summer by Childish Gambino
- Believer by Imagine Dragons
- The Opener by Camp Cope
- Island Home by Christine Anu
- Being Human by Jen Cloher
- Walk a Country Mile by Kasey Chamber, Lee Kernaghan and Troy Casser-Daley
- Heading in the Right Direction by Renee Geyer
- Let Me Be Great by Sampa the Great, featuring Angelique Kidjo
- My Sister by the Tiddas
- Raise Your Hand by Vika and Linda
- Physical by Olivia Newton-John
Additional reading
Enjoy this playlist of 26 songs about survival, protest, reconciliation and truth-telling, by Luke Briscoe in NITV
The greatest songs about the climate crisis, by Alexis Petridis in The Guardian
34 best songs about nature and environmental preservation, by Jennifer Okafor
15 powerful songs against racism, by Human Rights Careers
See other articles by @WePublicHealth guest tweeters.
