Are current welfare reform policies in Commonwealth countries appropriate for people with a mental illness?

Ashley McAllister is interested in exploring contemporary (since 1990) welfare reforms to determine if the current policies are appropriate for people with mental illness when applying for income support. The aim is to clearly identify the barriers experienced by those with mental illness when they apply for welfare support and develop feasible policy proposals centred on evidence-based research on mental illness. This research will be a comparative multiple-case study focusing on Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Food policies to reduce chronic disease in India

Shauna Downs' main interest is in the relationship between the food supply, the nutrition transition and chronic disease. 

Developing a minimum dataset for use in an Australian integrative medicine clinic

Jennifer Hunter is reviewing the quality of information routinely collected in a multidisciplinary primary care clinic that integrates natural therapies with mainstream medicine. The project will also short list and pilot test questionnaires for measuring the outcomes of patients who attend the clinic. A minimum dataset will be proposed that aims to measure a broad spectrum of domains including health care use, physical health outcomes, disease prevention, quality of life and positive definitions of wellbeing.

From this project, the long-term aim is to develop a standardised online database that is able to monitor health service use and patient outcomes. The database will provide a practical tool to support urgently needed evaluations of multidisciplinary primary care and integrative medicine clinics in Australia.

The impact of trade and fiscal policy on population nutrition in the Pacific Islands, and future policy implications

Anne Marie Thow is looking historically at the relationship between trade and fiscal policy and population nutrition in the Pacific, and conducting policy analyses of fatty meat bans and soft drink taxes in Pacific Island countries. Her main interest is in the relationship and interaction between economic policy and public health nutrition.

Heavy Heart: the untold tale of economic and psychosocial impact of CVD on patients and their families in Malaysia

Surianti Sukeri is doing a cross-sectional study on the economic and human impact of CVD on patients and their families in Malaysia. This study will seek to address the household healthcare spending in respect to CVD treatment and to determine the effects of the illness on treatment compliancy, employment, household income, expenditures, productivity, quality of life, education, functional limitation and access to health care. At the same time this study will also provide an insight into the human face of the disease, particularly its psychosocial and emotional impact concerning household perceptions, affective responses and adaptation towards the illness.

HIV advocacy in the former USSR

Andrey Zheluk is conducting a case study examining HIV and drug policy change in the Russian Federation. This explanatory study will examine how performance monitoring data collected through an international donor funded program has been used to influence policy change across tiers of government. This study will develop the theoretical basis for donor-funded interventions that aim to change public health policy in the Russian Federation.

NSW models of care that reflect innovation in ageing and chronic disease management and their links to policy

Angela Littleford is looking at the development of standardised models of care in chronic disease management in NSW, looking at the policy frameworks, national and state that have influenced these models and the problems of implementation. Her work study is in its first year and she is currently interviewing policy-makers.

The global politics of Tuberculosis control

John Hall is a public health physician with long experience of working in the Pacific Islands and other low resource settings. His thesis looks at the context of emergent MDR TB in Papua New Guinea. He is examining the reasons for widespread failures in health surveillance and implementation of externally funded programs. His main interest is in the troubled relationships between global policies devised with little regard for local realities and the difficulty of implementing these interventions in setting with poor resources, inadequate trained workers and fragile governance structures.

The development of an Environmental health policy for nanotechnology in Australia

Adam Capon is being sponsored by NSW Health to complete the first major Australian study of the policy implications of the development of nanotechnologies. He will compare current Australian approaches with overseas initiatives, such as the UK Health Protection Agency. He will consult closely with the different Australian jurisdictions to develop some concrete proposals and regulatory strategies.