Our final ICYMI column for the year brings some sobering reflections on a variety of fronts, as well as positive developments for Aboriginal health research and wider research news.
The quotable?
The risk of false negative results when using COVID‐19 RATs for self‐testing may be considerably higher than apparent in manufacturer reports on the TGA website, with implications for the reliability of these tests for ruling out infection.”
Global health
In his final media briefing for the year, the World Health Organization’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he looked back on 2023 “with a heavy heart”.
“It has been a year overshadowed by crisis, conflict, divisive politics and the continuing threat of disease outbreaks and the climate crisis,” he said. “WHO started the year responding to a major earthquake in Türkiye and Syria, and we end the year responding to the horrific war in Gaza.”
He highlighted the toll of war and conflict in many countries, and the scale of rape as a weapon of war in many countries.
“But the systemic nature and unprecedented scale of rape and gender-based violence in Tigray is like nothing I have seen in my professional career and the lack of media coverage is deafening,” he said.
Meanwhile, resistance is growing to the new government’s assaults on public health in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The repeal of smoke-free legislation has undone decades of work to reduce inequities in Māori health outcomes and is “reprehensible”, according to this report in the BMJ.
“The combined policy package that would have been introduced by the smoke-free legislation has been widely reported as having the potential to avoid around 8,150 deaths by the year 2040. Importantly, it is estimated that a third of these prevented deaths would have been in wahine Māori (Māori women).
“In repealing the legislation, the new government has managed, in a single stroke, to stymie long term efforts to reduce inequities in Māori mortality. This policy U turn will do immeasurable harm to tangata whenua (the Indigenous people) and undo 20 years of work by Māori leaders, public health advocates, health researchers, Māori community owned and operated health providers, and tangata Māori (Māori people) to rid our nation of this insidious practice.”
Research matters
Read: Developing a South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Accord
The Accord comprises nine key principles that guide Aboriginal health research in South Australia: priorities, involvement, partnership, respect, communication, reciprocity, ownership, control, and knowledge translation and exchange. Each principle is presented with a summary explanation and description of its application in research practice.
“The Accord aims to guide researchers, universities, research institutes, consultants, governments and service providers in the appropriate processes required when developing and conducting health research with Aboriginal people in South Australia and can serve as a guide for ethics committees.
“It provides a voice for Aboriginal communities to inform researchers on how they would like health research to be conducted in their communities. Consistently applying the nine principles of the Accord will increase the impact and benefit of health research for Aboriginal people in Australia.”
Action on gender equity in research
Listen to the podcasts on prevention 
Read the letter in NEJM 
Read: Leaving prison later in life: improving care of Australia’s older inmates
COVID updates
Read: Long covid: where are we, what does it say about our pandemic response, and where next?
Read: Australia’s mortality rate is more than 6pc higher than expected, new Australian Bureau of Statistics report reveals 
Read: COVID‐19 rapid antigen tests approved for self‐testing in Australia: published diagnostic test accuracy studies and manufacturer‐supplied information. A systematic review
“The risk of false negative results when using COVID‐19 RATs for self‐testing may be considerably higher than apparent in manufacturer reports on the TGA website, with implications for the reliability of these tests for ruling out infection.”
#AusPol
#CroakeyREAD
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