The medical profession is perhaps best known for its contribution to curative medicine. Each day we read about advances in medical science driven by groundbreaking research aimed at curing diseases. In the developing world infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis and the widespread prevalence of HIV and AIDS provide enormous challenges for medical researchers and clinicians
Like most poets I’m very superstitious. The poetry of Yeats’ ripples with visions, spells, alchemy and portents. Yeats not only believed in but also notoriously practised magic. He claimed unapologetically the ancient Celtic tradition where poets are akin to priests and magicians
There is disagreement about whether obesity should be considered a disease. Obesity is inconsistently referred to as a ‘condition’, a ‘lifestyle disorder’, a ‘risk factor for disease’, and even a ‘disease’ itself. These descriptions appear in both the popular press and scholarly articles and likely reflect the diverse and often conflicting views about obesity
Mathematics is an absolutely critical part of our future — and we can maximise its impact for the public and private good over the next 11 years if we take the opportunity now
Jane is a 13-year-old girl whose father brought her along to a children’s clinic to see a psychologist for help with the many problems she was having. At home she was difficult to live with, with frequent outbursts of anger and misery, and refusal to cooperate with family routines
As a child I worried about the poor. I thought about them almost as much as I thought about how much I wanted to own a horse. And that was a lot. My mother said that the measure of poverty was when children came to school without shoes. She said I was to keep my eyes open for bare feet in the playground, but in the meantime I should stop worrying
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs; e.g., cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease) represent a profound threat to the health of the world’s population, accounting for over two-thirds of deaths worldwide and more than half of the global disease burden. Globally, NCD rates continue to rise, with the prevalence of diabetes increasing by 45% between 1990 to 2013
Agriculture is a complex, sophisticated and indispensable component of modern Australian life. Climate change is heightening these characteristics. It is simultaneously increasing the agriculture sector’s vulnerability: underlining its reliance on nature and fossil fuels, exposing its weaknesses, and testing its ability to rapidly adapt to new circumstances
This chapter is about wellbeing in the Anthropocene. ‘The Anthropocene’ is the name given to the new chronological period the Earth is said to now be in as a result of human modifications, representing its exit from the Holocene (the past, relatively stable 10–12 millenia)
In Australia, nearly one third of our national population — approximately 7 million Australians — live in rural and remote areas. For all the complex reasons that health and place are associated, the health of this spatially, economically, socially and culturally distinct group is generally quantitatively and qualitatively different to — and often significantly poorer than — that of those living in major cities