May report for Environment, Climate and Health

1 May 2020

New grants/funding

A joint project between the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, RSPH and ANUMS:

“Bushfire and health communication with children from vulnerable populations” was funded by the RSSS Cross-College Grant Scheme (RSPH/NCEPH involvement Sotiris Vardoulakis, Erin Walsh, Ginny Sargent)

A joint project between School of Sociology, RSPH and ANUMS “Interdisciplinary approaches to maternal and child health in times of climate crisis” was funded by the RSSS Cross-College Grant Scheme (RSPH/NCEPH involvement Sotiris Vardoulakis)

A joint project between RSP and RSPH(multiple centres) “The effect of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of the community” was funded under the college emergency fund. (NCEPH involvement Rodney Harris, Housen)

A joint project between RSPH, ANUMS, JCSMR and others “Wastewater (sewage) and coronavirus (COVID-19) in the ACT” was funded under the college emergency fund (RSPH/NCEPH involvement Aparna Lal, Darren Gray, Kathryn Glass, Sotiris Vardoulakis)

Outreach and engagement

Rachael was invited to the Bega Valley Health & Wellbeing Recovery Sub Committee Meeting to speak about the Bushfire Health Survey.

Media releases/interest

Sotiris has given media interviews/articles on the environmental impacts of COVID19 lockdown to Vice Australia, and on air pollution and health to One Metro and Diabetes magazines.

The Bushfire Health Survey was featured on ABC Canberra and The RiotACT’s facebook pages.

Papers accepted/published:

  1. Jalaludin B., Johnston F., Vardoulakis S., Morgan G., 2020. Reflections on the catastrophic 2019-2020 Australian bushfires. The Innovation (in press)
  2. Gardiner F, Gale L, Bishop L, Harwood A, Lucas RM, Richardson A. Rural and remote dental care: Patient characteristics and healthcare provision. Aust J Rural Health (accepted 14 Apr 2020).
  3. Lingham G, Mackey DA, Seed N, Ryan L, Milne E, Lucas RM, Franchina M, Sze-Yee Lee S, Yazar S. Re-engaging an inactive cohort of young adults: Evaluating recruitment for the Kidskin Young Adult Myopia Study BMC Medical Research Methodology (accepted 27 Apr 2020)
  4. Lal A, Hargreaves J. An epidemiologic approach to environmental monitoring: Cyanobacteria in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment (accepted 20th April 2020)
  5. Wangdi K, Xu Z, Thinkhamrop A, Kurscheid J, Lal A, Namgay R, et al. A spatio-temporal analysis to identify the drivers of malaria transmission in Bhutan. Nature Scientific Reports (accepted 3rd April 2020)

Progress on research projects

Marshall Islands Climate Change and Health Policy and Action Plan consultancy project – deliverables submitted, currently looking for options to organise a stakeholder workshop in Majuro via video link. (Sotiris Vardoulakis, Amelia Joshy, Robyn Lucas)

Health outcomes of dietary supplementation in individuals exposed to air pollution: protocol for systematic review registered with PROSPERO (Daniela Espinoza Oyarce, Sotiris Vardoulakis, Robyn Lucas)

Air quality monitoring research project – instruments moved to residential property for indoor measurements (Sotiris Vardoulakis)

Clean Environment and Planetary Health in Asia (CEPHA) Network – kick off meeting (Sotiris Vardoulakis)

Bushfire Health Survey - The ANU Bushfire Health Survey closed, receiving over 2000 responses. The aim of the survey is to understand the effects of bushfire smoke on physical and mental health and lifestyle of the capital and surrounding region. (Rachael Rodney Harris et al.)

PFAS Health Study – Data analysis for the Cross-sectional Survey and Blood Serum Study is underway and contingency plans are being discussed for any changes required to the comparison communities due to the response to COVID-19. The Data Linkage Study is progressing well, with individual linkages commencing in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and New South Wales (using the Perinatal Data Collection). The main linkage component for this study, using national databases, is yet to commence, with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare having confirmed final ethical approval this week to commence linkage