Good News

Despite the unfortunate circumstances of COVID-19, we welcome home Emily Banks to Canberra.

Majority of the EPP group are either working from home or have been absorbed in some capacity to inform government during the pandemic. All staff members have been working extra hard to ensure a seamless transition and maintain activity and engagement. Jenny Welsh, Ellie Paige, Melonie Martin and Katie Beckwith have created NCEPH spaces on Zoom, so despite the physical distancing measures we can remain social and support each other through this time. 

Keynote and invited presentations

Kamalini Lokuge was invited to present on a panel at the National Press Club which was aired on ABC, you can view it here https://iview.abc.net.au/show/national-press-club-address/series/0/video/NC2011C008S00

Implementation, Engagement and Outreach

The Multiple Cause of Death Data Project Investigator Meeting was held on 3^rd of March. Grace Joshy, Karen Bishop, Saliu Balogun, Rosemary Korda and colleagues from the ABS and AIHW met to discuss upcoming deliverables.

A stakeholder roundtable (at ANU) to discuss improvements to CVD risk calculators and primary care software was planned for 26 March but postponed due to pandemic. Online collaboration will be re-visited when feasible. Stakeholders from government, software, primary health networks and research leaders remain engaged. 

Jason Agostino will be attending a follow-up CSIRO workshop in April where software vendors will test the use of an online, updated CVD risk calculator hosted on a Cloud-based platform.

Media Releases/interest

Kamalini Lokuge was featured in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/20/i-have-helped-control-health-epidemics-for-25-years-there-is-a-way-to-stop-coronavirus

Kamalini Lokuge was featured on ABC’s 7:30 report https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/dr-norman-swan-explains-what-steps-we-could-take/12090780

Jason Agostino was featured in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/plea-for-tents-or-anything-to-help-with-self-isolation-in-overcrowded-indigenous-communities

The consensus statement on CVD risk assessment released on 16th March. There was good uptake from media - Jason Agostino has participated in numerous interviews for radio, TV and print. 

Peak bodies including NACCHO, Heart Foundation, RACGP and organisations representing primary care nurses and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers also engaged in disseminating the changes in recommendations to members.

New staff

EPP group welcomes a new full time research assistant Eden Barrett. Eden recently completed her PhD at UoW. Eden will be working with Ellie Paige and Katie Thurber.

Other news

Jason Agostino, in his capacity as Medical Advisor to NACCHO, is part of a task force leading the development of a NACCHO/RACGP COVID-19 guide to help communities in responding to the pandemic. [many others in the ATSIHP are involved in this work too - Katie Thurber is coordinating the team working on the rapid reviews]

Ellie Paige and Eden Barrett are co-ordinating the RSPH rapid reviews/evidence summaries.

Multiple staff members from the EPP Group have been seconded by different government departments in response to COVID-19, including: Miranda Harris, Raglan Maddox, Alex Marmor and Steph Davis

Papers accepted/published

1. Agostino, J.W., Wong, D., Paige, E., Wade, V., Connell, C., Davey, M.E., Peiris, D.P., Fitzsimmons, D., Burgess, C.P., Mahoney, R., Lonsdale, E., Fernando, P., Malamoo, L., Eades, S., Brown, A., Jennings, G., Lovett, R.W. and Banks, E. (2020), Cardiovascular disease risk assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged under 35 years: a consensus statement. Med. J. Aust.. doi:10.5694/mja2.50529

    

2. Welsh J, Korda RJ, Banks E, Strazdins L, Joshy G, Butterworth P. (2020) Identifying long-term psychological distress from single measures: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of the Australian population. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 20(1):55. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-00938-8

    

3. Chando S, Craig J, Burgess L, Sherriff S, Purcell A, Gunasekera H, Banks S, Smith N, Banks E, Woolfenden S.  Developmental risk among Aboriginal children living in urban areas in Australia: the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). BMC Paediatrics (accepted 23 December 2019)

    

4. Butler D, Agostino J, Paige E, Korda R, Douglas K, Wade V, Banks E. Sociodemographic characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health checks. Pub Health Res Prac (accepted 3 February 2020)