AHPA Updates

Read Karen McPhail-Bell’s story about tweeting for AHPA in July 2016.

What kind of work do people do when working in health promotion? AHPA WA has collected stories from their members to put a face to health promotion in practice. Read more...

26 Sep 2016 - 27 Sep 2016. Ann Harding Conference Centre. University of Canberra, ACT

This is a multi-disciplinary event bringing national and international speakers and delegates from a variety of disciplines together to be informed and inspired to challenge, re-think and re-vision healthcare; focusing on wellness rather than illness.

AHPA Victoria held their first Professional Development session for 2016 on April 19th. The session focused on advocacy and special guests speakers for the night were Jane Martin from the Obesity Policy Coalition and Ben Hubbard, General Manager of Public Policy and Strategy.

A 2015 global survey of national climate change and health plans confirms Australia lags behind comparable countries in responding to the health impacts of climate change.^[i]

Melinda Edmunds, WA Branch President and AHPA 2016 Conference Co-Convenor is the inaugural winner of the Glen Paley Award. Judges noted Melinda’s passion and proactivity for health promotion and the Association

Annabel Axford and Drew Carter were presented with the Ray James award for their article Building workforce capacity for ethical reflection in health promotion: a practitioner’s experience.

The ACT Government have now released the findings from the community consultation on food and drink marketing. A summary of findings from the consultation, and non-confidential submissions, have been published on the ACT Government Healthy Living website.

AHPA is pleased to announce the second virtual issue of the Health Promotion Journal of Australian.

This Ottawa Charter edition provides a fascinating sample of articles published in the HPJA since the Journal’s inception in 1991. The articles, written by many of Australia’s health promotion leaders over the years, illustrate the way Australia has adopted the principles of the Ottawa Charter.

AHPA congratulates Professor Fran Baum, on her AO in the Queen’s Birthday Honours awarded recently. Fran was awarded the AO for her distinguished service to higher education as an academic and public health researcher, as an advocate for improved access to community health care, and to professional organisations.

Dear Members,

We are increasingly concerned about the impacts on the health of the Australian and global population from climate change – and the increased burden on the health sector from illnesses associated, for example with the air pollution caused by coal and diesel combustion. We want Australia (and the rest of the G7) to shift to cleaner, healthier energy sources, and source more electricity from the sun and the wind – this is better for people’s health, and better for the planet!

Health Alliance welcomes Greens’ new policies on hospital funding and private health insurance rebate.

The Health Promotion Journal of Australia, the flagship journal for AHPA, has launched the inaugural 'virtual issue (VI)' on the topic of 'Climate Change and Health Promotion'. See it here.

National Close the Gap Day is about Indigenous health equality. The Aim of National Close the Gap Day is to 'bring people together, to share information — and most importantly — to take meaningful action in support of achieving Indigenous health equality by 2030'. You can find out more here: you can download resources, register to hold an event or pledge your support to close the gap.

Health Promotion professionals across Australia will soon have the opportunity to be accredited as a Health Promotion Practitioner. In a major boost for the credibility and profile of the Health Promotion profession in Australia, the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) has formally approved AHPA’s application to become the National Accreditation Organisation for Australia.

Congratulations to Professor Billie Giles-Corti and her team for their article:

B Giles-Corti, G Macaulay, N Middleton, B Boruff, F Bull , I Butterworth , H Badland, S Mavoa, R Roberts and H Christian. Developing a research and practice tool to measure walkability: a demonstration project. 2014. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 25(3), 160-166. Which won the 2015 Ray James Award for best paper in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia. The award was accepted by Dr Hannah Badland at the AHPA members’ meeting at the 2015 National Population Health Congress in Hobart (6-9 September).

AHPA, along with the rest of Australia and many others in several countries, mourn the death of a great man: Paul Pholeros who died in RPAH in Sydney on the 1 February 2016.

The end of the year provides as a fitting opportunity to share with you some of AHPA highlights in this final update for 2015. It has once again been a big year and we have achieved a lot. For an update on AHPA news see the President’s End of Year Update 2015.