New Website on Public Policy for Healthy People and Fair Societies

Image: NHMRC (University of Sydney)
Image: NHMRC (University of Sydney)

The NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on the Social Determinants of Health Equity (CRE) team is pleased to announce the launch of the new CRE website.

The site can be visited for regular updates, news of the team’s research and events being held through the CRE. To stay in the loop with the CRE’s news, you can also sign-up to the CRE mailing list (available on the home-page) and to follow on Twitter at @crehealthequity.

On Monday 8th February the team will also host a day-long Twitter-fest including interviews with leading health equity researchers and facilitated by Croakey’s Melissa Sweet – be sure to follow the day using this hashtag: #healthequity16.

The NHMRC-funded CRE was launched by former Prime Minister the Hon Julia Gillard in April 2015. The Centre brings together world-leading academics, policy-makers and civil society groups from across Australia and internationally, and is devoted to the interdisciplinary study of how government policies shape how healthy we are, how long we live and how this differs depending on our social and economic circumstances.

Combining insights from intervention evaluation, public health, political science and systems science research, the CRE is conducting research on what factors influence how policies are devised and implemented in ways that do or not incorporate health equity. We are also developing new methods of assessing the effectiveness of implementation and impact of policies on health equity. Understanding and acting on these challenges will be a key step forward to achieving more equitable health outcomes for all Australian’s.

The website describes the four work programs and focus policy areas of the CRE which include trade and investment; health systems; land use planning and infrastructure. We have also been developing our particular focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and working to integrate Indigenous knowledges into our work.

A central part of the CRE’s work is engagement with policy and practice. On May 12th the team will host their first policy day in Canberra. The aim of this day is to:

  • Disseminate evidence, including lessons from Australian and international experiences, on how political and policy processes can function more effectively to improve the health of all Australians and the most disadvantaged peoples.
  • Facilitate dialogue between government, civil society and academia and generate new understandings on these topics, including intensive engagement with policy sectors that powerfully influence the social determinants of health.
  • Engage the Australian media and public.

Dame Professor Margaret Whitehead (University of Liverpool) will speak at the policy day about her experiences in working on policies for health equity through a European Union project. Professor Ron Labonte will speak about trade agreements and health.

The CRE is co-Directed by Prof Fran Baum (Southgate Institute) and Prof Sharon Friel (RegNet, ANU). Flinders chief investigators are Prof Dennis McDermott and Dr. Tamara McKean. Other CIs are: Professor Adrian Kay (ANU) & Associate Professor Lyndall Strazdins (ANU), Professor Ronald Labonte (University of Ottawa, Canada) and Dr Patrick Harris (University of Sydney).

The URL for the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on the Social Determinants of Health Equity is http://www.flinders.edu.au\crehealthequity.

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