Best foot forward

A randomised control trial has found that “gamified” step exercises at home helped prevent falls for people over 65 by over a quarter, compared to a control group.

The return of COVID

COVID is now seen as a minor inconvenience, rather than a global health threat, but a new variant is surging across the world and only 20% of older Australians are up to date with their booster shots.

Eight weeks to less stress

A little compassion can go a long way in life, and just eight weeks of a new compassion and mindfulness-based program has made a world of difference to those with post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Gene genies

The UK and US have both approved a gene editing therapy to overcome the genetic mutation that causes sickle cell disease, heralding a new age of gene editing to treat congenital genetic conditions.

What ails Australia?

Mental health and substance use disorders are now the second largest group of diseases causing illness and premature death in Australia, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Lack of trust inhibits health data sharing

A lack of trust between institutions in Australia is a bigger hurdle to the easy sharing of health and social welfare data than perceived state legislation obstacles – which researchers say has little detrimental effect in Australia.

Mental health goes digital

The isolating effects of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 were a springboard for fast-paced, data-driven, technologically delivered changes in mental health care, led by new firms taking advantage of sluggish progress by traditional services.

Not such glorious food

A new study highlights the aggressive marketing of junk food to children by a cabal of major food manufacturers and calls for great restrictions to protect children from unhealthy products.

Caring for the carers

National Carers Week is a time we acknowledge the important but often unobserved, unpaid work of care done by 2.65 million Australians who provide support to family members or friends.

The end of antibiotics

Antibiotics have saved countless lives over the last hundred years, but a lack of development and their overuse in both human medicine and agriculture means their effectiveness is waning fast.

Zero stars for the food industry

Australia’s food industry is failing to meet already low targets for displaying the Health Star Rating (HSR) on product packaging by a significant margin, according to the 2023 State of the Food Supply Report released by The George Institute for Global Health.

Infertility in an over-populated world

Infertility now affects around one in every six couples of reproductive age around the world and a global team of experts has now made ten crucial recommendations to urgently tackle the worldwide decline in male fertility.