Moving tributes were paid to the late Professor David Cooper at the International AIDS Society conference held in Meanjin/Brisbane this week.
This week’s column also brings the latest news on the commercial determinants of health and links to new guidelines to support responsible reporting on child sexual abuse and empower victims and survivors engaging with the media.
The quotable:
The pandemic response shows the effectiveness of honouring Indigenous leadership (political and clinical) and self-determination, collaborative approaches led through agile and trusted clinical service delivery organisations, and shared decision making and resources, and these lessons present a path for future public health emergency resources.”
Global health
Founded 30 years ago in Oxford, Cochrane UK was Cochrane’s first geographic group. It is to close from the end of March 2024, with the end of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funding, according to this announcement on 21 July.
However, a previous statement, dated 19 July, said Cochrane UK would be seeking a new funder and host institution.
(You can see some of the reactions here, including that this is “terrible news”, “absolutely terrible news” and that this is “so sad and devastating for evidence-based medicine”.
Cochrane now has over 130 such groups across the world, working in-country to support the production, dissemination and use of evidence to guide decision-making in health and care.
Read more about the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response
According to a BMJ report on this series, “COVID-19 led directly to 52,750 deaths in Canada with more than 4.6 million reported cases as of mid-2023. This cumulative COVID-19 death rate of 1,372 per million exceeds the global average of 855 per million. Despite a universal healthcare system, communities experiencing social and economic marginalisation in Canada were hardest hit in each wave of the pandemic. Those living and working in long term care homes were particularly affected, which was a cause of national shame.
“Canada achieved high vaccination coverage domestically, but its hoarding of vaccination doses and failure to fully support multilateral efforts to share vaccination doses globally led to global vaccine inequity. Lessons from a previous outbreak of, SARS-CoV-1 — which in 2003 impacted more Canadians than anywhere else outside of Asia — went unheeded and left the country’s governments and health authorities ill prepared for COVID-19. An independent, national inquiry is needed to review Canada’s COVID-19 response, draw lessons, and ensure accountability for the past and future pandemic preparedness.”
This article says: “The pandemic response shows the effectiveness of honouring Indigenous leadership (political and clinical) and self-determination, collaborative approaches led through agile and trusted clinical service delivery organisations, and shared decision making and resources, and these lessons present a path for future public health emergency resources.”
Public health
Read the article. The researchers note: “Efforts to expand this evidence base would benefit from engagement with other issues that address the challenge of corporate power and influence in politics, including organisations involved in human rights, climate change, and democracy.”
Read the ABC article. 
Read the Sax Institute’s research
First Nations change-makers 
International AIDS Society Conference
Media matters
The Attorney-General’s Department has released a series of guides produced by the University of Canberra that support responsible reporting on child sexual abuse and empower victims and survivors engaging with the media (see them here). A related statement says:
“… reporting on child sexual abuse can be challenging for journalists and presenters. The guide for media released today promotes reporting that raises community awareness of child sexual abuse, promotes education, reduces stigma, and empowers victims and survivors.
“The guide for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse recognises that while sharing experiences with the media can be empowering, encourage others to come forward, increase community awareness and generate legal and policy change, it can also generate further hurt and trauma.”
Paying tribute
Events
Opportunities
Bye bye birdy
See previous editions of ICYMI
