|
|
Welcome to the latest issue of our newsletter, which has undergone a bit of a refresh!
One year on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a good time to reflect on how it has changed our perspectives and sharpened the focus on global health.
While it has helped elevate the importance of medical research, the push towards universal vaccination has also shone a spotlight on global health inequities. The George is committed to advancing health equity and much of our research is driven by our belief that nobody should be denied quality health care due to their social, economic or political status. That is why we were proud to support the WHO campaign on Vaccine Equity.
At The George Institute, our focus has always been on reducing the burden of non-communicable disease and injury across the globe, and COVID is obviously a major health problem that particularly impacts people with chronic diseases and marginalised or socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. We have been able to adapt our research effort in a way that has helped further our understanding of COVID-19, particularly as it relates to chronic diseases. This newsletter highlights some of the outstanding work our researchers are currently doing in this space.
If there are any positives to come out of these challenging times, it's that at least for now there is increased understanding of the importance of global health initiatives and the need to transcend borders to truly achieve health equity. This underpins the work we do at The George Institute.
We hope you enjoy reading about our latest successes, new research projects and publications.
|
|
|
Professor Anushka Patel
Vice-Principal Director & Chief Scientist
|
|
|
|
The Scan is our new podcast featuring work across regions and strategic themes. It launched on 8th April 2021. A mini-series of 20-minute episodes, the first episode explores the challenges in addressing mental health issues in rural India. Find it here on our website or wherever else you get your podcasts!
|
|
|
The Affordable Dialysis System, developed by Sydney-based Ellen Medical, beat more than 500 entries from 22 countries to score top prize in the World Innovation Summit for Health 2020 Innovation Booster competition.
|
|
|
A team of George Institute researchers has been recognised by the American Heart Association for their work on blood pressure treatment with a low dose triple combination antihypertensive polypill.
|
|
|
The George Institute for Global Health China has been named Best Independent Global Medical Research Institute 2020 for its efforts to improve health and combat chronic disease in China and around the world.
|
|
|
An innovative study to assess whether a commonly used cholesterol lowering medication can prevent brain complications from COVID-19 has received over $2.3m from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund.
|
|
|
Three leading George Institute researchers have together scored just over $2.5 million for innovative projects in the latest round of the Australian Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council Ideas Grants.
|
|
|
Two George Institute researchers have been awarded funding by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) to help make it easier to test new treatments for different forms of kidney disease.
|
|
|
A new report on progress towards UN human rights obligations shows high income countries like Australia have little justification for failing to implement programs to improve women’s health and advance gender equality.
|
|
|
New George Institute report shows that making SGLT2 inhibitors - a class of diabetes medication - widely available in Australia would save lives and reduce costs to society.
|
|
|
George Institute researchers looked at how COVID-19 affects people with asthma and found that having the condition doesn’t increase the risk of severe illness or death from the virus.
|
|
|
Managing single risk factors like blood pressure rather than looking at overall risk may be wasting scarce resources in countries where cardiovascular disease (CVD) is on the rise, according to new study.
|
|
|
Our study involving 600 smokers in the UK has found that cessation messaging focused on easing the burden on our health system is most effective in encouraging people to quit.
|
|
|
New research released for World Salt Awareness Week shows that many countries are taking action to drop the salt and those which have well established national salt reduction strategies are doing well compared to the ones which do not. Sadly, India does not figure in this list.
|
|
|
Published in British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health, a first its kind study in China provides an estimate of the effect of multimorbidity on total medical and out-of-pocket expenditure, which increases as health expenditure increases.
|
|
|
For more than a decade, The George Institute has championed global action on salt that has the potential to save many millions of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare costs.
|
|
|
Young drivers from poor areas are two to four times more likely to be in a car crash, with higher rates of death or hospitalisation, than their peers from richer areas: new study by The George Institute. Read more in The Sydney Morning Herald.
|
|
|
“Relaxation of restrictions to prevent transmission results in surges of new cases, the virus moves when people move and therefore protecting the vulnerable is of paramount importance to all countries”, says Dr. Oommen John, Senior Research Fellow, The George Institute, India. Read more in LiveMint.
|
|
|
“The health sector missed an opportunity of historic proportions to take a gendered approach to a gendered crisis”, says Kent Buse, Director, Healthier Societies, The George Institute. Read more in Daily Maverick.
|
|
|
Our submission highlights the need for more research to be conducted into the prominence of systemic racism within Australia’s health system and the impacts on health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
|
|
|
The George Institute UK and India have signed a letter calling for the UK Government to reconsider swingeing cuts to research funding, outlining how devastating the newly announced cuts will be to the health and wellbeing of the world’s most vulnerable people, as well as to the UK’s position as a global leader in health research.
|
|
Parisa Glass, Director of Innovation and Enterprise & Professor Vlado Perkovic, Board Member, reflect:
COVID has thrown the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of our global health system into sharp relief. It has also highlighted the differences in healthcare affordability across the globe. It has given us a glimpse into what the future of medicine could look like if we don’t act.
|
|
|
With climate change high on the agenda, we should be ushering in large scale action that embraces more sustainable forms of transport. Bicycles offer a healthy, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly solution, writes Dr Soumyadeep Bhaumik, Research Fellow, The George Institute, India.
|
|
|
UK researchers have shown that one year after the British Government imposed a levy on sugar sweetened beverages (or SSBs), people are buying less sugar, but industry’s bottom line remains largely unscathed – described as a ‘win-win’ outcome. The George Institute’s Dr Alexandra Jones proposes that there are lessons to be learned by other countries, including Australia.
|
|
26th May: Webinar: Intersectoral action needed for the future health of people and planet
Join our upcoming webinar on how the challenge of global environmental change on health can best be responded to through intersectoral action and collaboration.
|
|
Our film on the plight of people living with chronic kidney disease CKDu (Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Aetiology) in India, is a finalist for the '2021 Best Film' award in The International Society of Nephrology (ISN)'s Community Film Event.
Watch our film!
|
|
|
The NCD Lab on Women and Girls, co-chaired by The George Institute and World Health Organization (WHO), aims to accelerate progress towards achieving the NCD and NCD-related Sustainable Development Goals. We are looking for innovative submissions that promote gender equity and recognize and address the role of gender in the determinants and impacts of NCDs, as well as the links between NCDs and gender inequalities and how these reinforce each other.
|
|
|
The George Institute for Global Health and UNSW Founders are partnering again to deliver Health 10x – an accelerator program for global health innovators or start-ups across Australia. Health10x provides entrepreneurs with health and medical expertise, and pairs founders with mentors to help guide their progress. If you have expertise in clinical, health research, or med-tech/pharma business development and are interested in being a mentor for early-stage start-ups, get in touch!
|
|
|
The George Institute is leading the way in the fight against sepsis. We tackle the condition from every angle – from research, to treatment, to awareness raising and survivor support. You can join the fight against sepsis and help save lives. Every donation – no matter how large or small - will make a difference.
|
|
|
|
|
