Choosing to eat good fresh food
My idea for the past twelve years has been to develop an enjoyable program suitable for all Australian primary schools, with the aim of positively influencing children’s attitudes and behaviours about food
The lottery of genetics
It’s Saturday morning, which means pancakes. After a long drive out to the quiet suburbs of regional Victoria, I arrive too late for the pancakes — but I am where I need to be. Down a wide street, past an oval with cricketers, is the home of Sandra and her family. Underneath a precious family portrait, one of Sandra’s ‘short kids’ smiles to welcome me. I’m taking Sandra out to lunch to discuss how she and her family became known to medical specialists the world over, and how her remarkable story has made it into this book
Skin ageing
What is this covering that we call the skin — this amazing envelope that contains some of the most extraordinary mechanisms in the entire body? It is not just the ‘giftwrap of life’, but an efficient organ of the body that guards, nourishes and protects it 24 hours a day. Yet we take our skin for granted
Mental health, hope and recovery
Mental health conditions are extremely common in the community and have a major impact on people’s day-to-day lives, as anyone who has been through the experience will tell you. For many people one of the hardest things is the uncertainty about recovery, and indeed, it is often a person’s very sense of hope that is diminished. For people experiencing mental distress there often is a powerful sense of hopelessness combined with a sense of despair that they will never recover
Genomics in general practice
In recent decades, there has been an extraordinary technological revolution underway in which the very building blocks of life, our genetic codes, are increasingly well understood and even manipulated by rapidly advancing scientific techniques. Meanwhile, the humble local general practitioner (GP) is still the backbone of most health systems around the world, a trusted source of advice and health care in the community, and is likely to play a growing role in communicating the significance of new genetic technologies
What’s up Doc? The benefits of a good GP
Throughout history people have relied on some form of doctor or other healer to help them and their families during times of illness, and to provide comfort and cures for various forms of sickness. Even with all our modern technology, powerful medications and access to vast quantities of health information on the Internet, people still encounter the daily health problems of living
Artificial intelligence and mental health
When we began to reflect on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) for mental health care, immediately there were a whole range of concerns that leapt out at us. How on earth could a non-living digital device be of value to any human being experiencing mental health issues? Isn’t another human being absolutely essential to provide the compassion and understanding of fellow human beings’ emotions, thoughts and feelings, and intimate troubles of life
Maintaining harmony in families with later life decisions
My interest in older people began quite early in my own life for three reasons. The first because my mother became seriously ill in her late fifties and I already had to learn to start to understand the role of being a carer — especially the role of carer of a parent
Adequate Support for People with a Disability
Kenny and thousands of other people with disabilities in Australia fall through a huge gap in our social services network, because their injury or disability is non-compensable. Because of this, individuals with a disability struggle below the poverty line
Control and Eradication of Malaria: Past, Present and Future
To the great surprise of many well-informed people in developed countries, malaria remains a major problem in the world today. Although figures may not be very reliable, it was estimated that in 2008 one fifth of the world’s population was at risk of malaria, leading to 240 million episodes and some 850,000 deaths, the majority occurring in Africa