The column this week highlights important new books – on global health, climate solutions, and “new ways of thinking about democracy, decolonial local-global enactments of culturally responsive pedagogies through school teaching and learning, and future thinking for a new era”.
We also bring news on COVID, the global health workforce, new palliative care resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and highlight yet more concerns about Twitter and Tik Tok.
Don’t miss the T-shirt sported by the World Health Organization’s chief. Perhaps many readers might like one too?
World Health Day
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the world will face a shortage of ten million health workers by 2030.
Addressing the Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Geneva on 3 April , the WHO’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on all countries to invest in health and care workers – specifically in decent working conditions, fair pay, and training and leadership.
Protecting and investing in health and care workers is not a job for Ministries of Health alone, he said.
“It’s a job that requires political leadership, coordination across the education, employment, gender and finance sectors, as well as government engagement with professional associations, labour unions, civil society and the private sector.”
The forum coincides with World Health Worker Week, and the WHO’s 75th anniversary – to be celebrated on World Health Day on 7 April.
See the timeline of public health milestones. Read from the book here.
Climate news
Read the article warning against reliance on carbon dioxide removal.
COVID
Watch the broadcast on COVID, including details of a new variant to watch.Patrick Vallance, who advised the UK government during the height of COVID, says that scientific officials should know four key things when guiding policymakers:
“There are four things that a science adviser needs to ask themselves. First, is the evidence base adequate and, if not, what needs to be done? Second, has the advice been understood? That’s really key. It’s not only about whether you delivered it. And you need to think about how you would assure yourself that it had been understood.
Point three is: has the science advice being given in a form that is relevant to policy consideration, and what do policymakers need to understand to formulate policy? It’s not easy.
The fourth area is to make sure that the role of science in monitoring the policy impact has also been thought through. That’s obviously crucial when you think about things such as the climate. When you make policy decisions, how are you going to know you’re actually headed in the right direction?”
#AusPol
First Nations Peoples’ health
See the palliative care resources. Read the story about the EWarlpiri-Anmatyerre loreman.
Global health and public health
Read about the talc settlement. Read Kate Carnell’s article on jailing is failing. Read the research.
Health reform matters
Digital platforms
#CroakeyREAD
Events and opportunities