It strikes me that the global economic meltdown is creating one of those “is the glass half full or half empty?” moments. Governments are talking up the need for public spending, investment and infrastructure development as part of efforts to kickstart economies. As Fran Baum and colleagues point out in Crikey today, it’s a critical time for those working for a more equitable distribution of health, whether within individual countries or more globally. Their ability to influence governments will depend on their ability to transform a public debate about economics into a much broader discussion. Is this likely? I’d like to believe so, but must confess that I’m probably more of a “glass half empty” type of gal on this one…
Contacts
Projects
Testimonials
From a crowded inbox, Croakey always leaps to my attention. It delivers views and information on a wide range of issues of relevance to rural and remote health and wellbeing.
Gordon Gregory
Rural health advocate
Croakey provides a rare platform to explore public health issues from a range of perspectives. Melissa and Marie have supported #cripcroakey, a series of articles about disability and health, at a time of profound change in disability policy that needs scrutiny and analysis. Croakey’s backing of writers from diverse backgrounds is a fantastic addition to Australian media.
El Gibbs
Award-winning writer; Leading #CripCroakey investigations of disability and health issues
Croakey has, over some years, provided a platform for debate about health policy, planning, funding and services. There aren’t enough places for these debates, and important issues affecting the health of our community risk going unexplored. Croakey helps to fill this hole. Viva Croakey!
Sebastian Rosenberg
Senior Lecturer, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney
Mainstream media usually only has the space and time to cover urgent health issues. Croakey has the space, time and expertise to cover the important issues which shape the health environment and our health system, and determine our health experience.
Charles Maskell-Knight PSM
A senior public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Health for over 25 years before retiring in 2021. He worked as a senior adviser to the Aged Care Royal Commission in 2019-20.
Croakey is terrific. Thought provoking, well researched information….and easy to read. A great combination.
Professor Kate Conigrave
Professor
of Addiction Medicine, The University of Sydney
Croakey is one of the few places where public health “activists” can vent their spleen. (I’m not sure why we’re called ‘activists’, but we certainly need a place to ‘vent’.) It’s also a useful place for journalists/media to find contacts who can speak intelligently on public health issues.
Dr Rosemary Stanton OAM
Public health nutrition “activist”
Croakey is now well established as compulsory reading for influencers and observers in health and medicine in Australia and internationally – and rightly so. As a blog, it gives voice to people who support or oppose government health and social policy. It allows people to express their views and opinions openly, passionately, and freely – from all perspectives. More importantly, Croakey provides a forum for new ideas and new thinking – based on experiences at the frontline of health service delivery – which we can only hope find their way into future health policy to provide better health services to the Australian community.
John Flannery
Health communications expert
If news doesn’t make you squirm it’s simply propaganda. Croakey’s unique blend of activism, humour and plain good reporting makes it an essential – if not always comfortable – read!
Professor Virginia Barbour
Croakey gives us our daily dose of independent thinking, discussion and debate on all things public health. The broad mix of contributors, topics and prolific tweets combine to make it a valuable and lively source of news and food for thought for all Australians.
Shauna Hurley
Monash University
The comments from Fran and co are right on the button! But the issue is not just about the poor in developing countries but the poor (and their health) in general. At a global level we need not to reform the World Bank, WTO and IMF but abandon them. They are not what Keynes envisaged would come out of the Bretton Woods Agreement. The voting in these is all too skewed towards the rich West and if the West cannot get its way there, it then retreats to the G7 and G8. What we need is the voice of the people as world citizens not to sort out this mess but to provide the values on which to sort out this mess. As Stiglitz – but only after he left his very senior position at the World Bank – has stated ’If the issue of [improving] access to AIDS drugs were put to a vote, in either developed or developing countries, the overwhelming majority would never support the position of the pharmaceutical companies.’ There is a gap between what informed citizens of the world want and what global institutions deliver. There seems also to be a gap between the values of a nation’s citizens and what is then provided by way of health care and public health.