Date: 11-13th May 2022
Location: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, QLD
Hosted by: Public Health Association Australia (PHAA)
Attended by & prepared by: Shelley Du
AH&MRC supported 3 staff from the Public Health Intelligence unit and 8 staff from our member services to attend the Preventative Health Conference 2022. The theme was accelerating action and over the 3 days, delegates were able to hear from keynote speakers, researchers and peers in the sphere of preventative health who brought their invaluable experience and keen insights to share.
Of particular note were Professor Yin Paradies, John Safran and A/Prof Tinashe Dune. Professor Paradies spoke about disrupting whiteness in preventative health and persuaded delegates to re-evaluate their practice and consider how racism is pervasive in health and society (see picture below). Writer John Safran illuminated the challenges of language and policy in e-cigarettes and IQOS heated tobacco sticks and the might of tobacco corporations. A/Prof Dune spoke about the importance of having clinicians and health workers who shared a cultural background with those they were caring for and the importance of supporting and building their workforce.
The 8 staff who were supported to attend from our member services spanned 5 ACCHOs and included Aboriginal health workers, practitioners, nurses, a community development officer and admin staff.
The staff from AH&MRC who were supported the Preventative Health conference found the presentations engaging, relevant to their work and were inspired by the many innovative ways to solve healthcare problems. The staff from member services who attended were surveyed post-conference. There were 2 responses and while they did not find the conference very relevant to their work, they found the exhibitions interesting and wanted more discussions around reconciliation and co-design centred around working with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and clients.
I am grateful to be among the delegates representing AH&MRC and bringing the knowledge I’ve learnt back to my work and to have absorbed the passion of others who work in the broader public health space.
