The Preventive Health Conference 2022 heard calls to disrupt whiteness in public health, to move towards regenerative and wellbeing economies, and to address the determinants of health inequities, including through interventions to ensure food and housing security.
Australia’s stalled rollout of third doses of the COVID vaccine was also on the agenda of the conference, which was held from 11-13 May as a hybrid event, with virtual access and a face-to-face meeting in Brisbane.
Thanks to an active bunch of #Prevention2022 tweeps, Croakey’s @WePublicHealth account was able to re-tweet many of the discussions. Below is a summary of those @WePublicHealth retweets.
Lessons learnt
In the opening plenary session, Professor Emily Banks, Head of the Centre for Public Health Data and Policy at the Australian National University, and Dr Lyn Roberts, Deputy Chancellor of Deakin University, discussed the National Preventive Health Strategy – past, present and future.
Read this article here.
COVID responses: successes and failures
A plenary session examined: International journey regarding COVID – who has done well and who hasn’t.
Emma O’Brien, a Managing Editor at Bloomberg News, is the editor of the award-winning Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking, which has become a key barometer for how the world’s biggest economies are handling the pandemic, from case levels, vaccination and death rates, to economic performance and opening up. I
Infectious diseases physician and microbiologist Dr Paul Griffin is the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services.
Read more from this session here.
Decolonising, disrupting and transforming
A plenary session focused on: Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility in prevention – anti racism work.
Professor Yin Paradies is an Aboriginal-Asian-Anglo Australian of the Wakaya people from the Gulf of Carpentaria. He is Chair in Race Relations at Deakin University.
Assistant Professor Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh is the Director of the Black Health Education Collaborative and an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. In this role she is working to transform medical and public health education to address anti-Black racism and improve Black health.
A/Prof Tinashe Dune, Clinical Psychology Registrar, University of Wollongong, Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, School of Psychology.
Health equity matters
A plenary session focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health – priorities now.
Haylene Grogan, Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer and Deputy Director-General, Queensland Health, is a Yalanji and Tagalaka woman with Italian heritage.
Tom Brideson, Chief Executive Officer, Gayaa Dhuwi, is a Kamilaroi/Gomeroi man.
Systems and partnerships for impact
Professor Anna Peeters, Director of the Institute for Health Transformation and Professor of Epidemiology and Equity in Public Health at Deakin University, gave the Douglas Gordon Oration.
‘Cut the crap’
A plenary session discussed communication and risk information, while the power of digital platforms in shaping the communications environment was also highlighted.
Other sessions
Many presentations highlighted health inequities.
