Cook Islands' first Joint External Evaluation seeks to strengthen health security
The island is vulnerable to natural disasters, outbreaks and the impacts of climate change, and the JEE mission looked at how they respond to it's health risks.
World Health Organisation's Director of Pacific technical support, Dr Mark Jacobs who led the mission, says they only work with countries who freely volunteer to participate.
"The Cook Islands saw this as an important thing they want to do...it really shows how much commitment there is by the Cook Islands into improving their capacity," said Dr Jacobs.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
20 hours ago
- ABC News
Victorian government urged to move on months-overdue women's pain inquiry
Women who have spent years navigating the health system seeking care for extreme pain say they are frustrated at the slow pace of a government inquiry into the issue. Victoria's Labor government announced the country's first inquiry into women's pain in early 2024, but more than a year later, little progress has been made. In January last year, Premier Jacinta Allan promised the report would be finalised by the end of 2024. "Time matters," said Marina Kyriakou, founder of the Fight Endo Foundation. "It's not right to live in pain, it's not normal, unfortunately that's what these women face at the moment." The inquiry's findings and recommendations were due to be made public early this year. But months on, there's no sign of the inquiry's work, beyond an update to the inquiry's website pushing the release date off to "mid -2025". For Bendigo teacher Jackie Handley pain is a daily battle. Ms Handley was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition involving widespread body pain, after 17 years of doctors' visits, costly appointments and frustration. Once a keen sportswoman who competed in high level netball and basketball, she said her condition now meant some days just getting out of bed was a challenge. Leaving the house can be impossible. "I feel very isolated," she said. "I used to have a lot of friends, but now not so much." Ms Handley said the financial impact of chronic pain could not be ignored. "I've seen countless GPs, specialists, psychologists, and natural therapists — often feeling judged, ignored, or passed from one professional to the next," she said. She estimated she'd spent $200,000 on her health over the course of her adult life. "It can take years to be believed, let alone diagnosed or treated appropriately, Ms Handley said. "You're often dismissed, misunderstood, or told it's all in your head."It was experiences like Ms Handley's that initially spurred the government to launch the inquiry. A government Women's Health Advisory Council and a panel of experts were tasked with "examining systemic issues and solutions" around the treatment of women's pain in Victoria. In September last year, Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas released preliminary themes which had emerged from a survey associated with the inquiry. The survey found women and girls had experienced sexism and misogyny in the health system, had pain dismissed as psychological or emotional, and had diagnoses delayed. Despite those dire early findings, the inquiry itself has also been delayed. In response to questions by the ABC, a government spokesperson said the report was yet to be finalised. They put the delay down to the huge response to the inquiry, which received more than 13,000 submissions. "This large volume of contributions has meant we have needed more time to properly analyse the data to respect the voices of women who told us their stories," the spokesperson said. "The report is now being finalised. "It's clear that women are hurting, but they are not being heard and we want to change that." The spokesperson said proposed government job cuts had no impact on the inquiry's work. Fight Endo Foundation founder Marina Kyriakou's advocacy around endometriosis stems from her personal experience. "I couldn't be a mum because of endometriosis. To this day, I'm in my 50s now, it still upsets me," she said. It took more than two decades for her pain to be diagnosed as endometriosis and in 2021 she underwent a hysterectomy. "That's why females are frustrated and angry. The main thing I'm hearing is the disappointment." She hopes the inquiry leads to major changes to the way the disease was diagnosed. "I do think there's a lack of education amongst our GPs, that's something we really need to target," Ms Kyriakou said. "They send [women] to a specialist, and you've got to wait to see a specialist three months, six months. Out of pockets are crazy. "Women are spending between five and 10 grand, if not more depending on what stage of endo they have." Ms Kyriakou is advocating for the creation of a free screening bus, where women could be diagnosed quickly with ultrasounds. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) Victoria was among the organisations which put a submission into the inquiry. "For too long Victorian women and girls haven't had their pain treated adequately, and certainly many women report that their experience of seeking care has been inadequate," the AMA's Dr Jill Tomlinson told the ABC. "We need to address that." Dr Tomlinson said the failure to appropriately treat women went beyond "bikini health", or conditions relating to the reproductive system. "There's actually implications for women's healthcare in cardiovascular health, in renal health," she said. Dr Tomlinson said changes had to be made in medical education, and research, as well as in the consultation room. There's still no indication of when the inquiry report will be finalised, and then made public. Women involved in the inquiry, who have struggled to be taken seriously by doctors, are urging the government against dawdling. "We need to get on with the urgent work of addressing the problems that have been identified in the women's pain inquiry," Dr Tomlinson said.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
WHO says nearly 100,000 struck with cholera in Sudan
The World Health Organization on Thursday said nearly 100,000 cholera cases had been reported in Sudan since July last year, as it warned of more hunger, displacement and disease to come. Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has killed tens of thousands. "In Sudan, unrelenting violence has led to widespread hunger, disease and suffering," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Cholera has swept across Sudan, with all states reporting outbreaks. Nearly 100,000 cases have been reported since July last year." Oral cholera vaccination campaigns had been conducted in several states, including the capital Khartoum, he told a press conference with the Geneva UN correspondents' association ACANU. "While we are seeing a declining trend in numbers, there are gaps in disease surveillance, and progress is fragile," he said. "Recent floods, affecting large parts of the country, are expected to worsen hunger and fuel more outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dengue and other diseases." Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with bacteria, often from faeces. It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. Cholera can kill within hours when not attended to, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration, and antibiotics for more severe cases. There has been a global increase in cholera cases, and their geographical spread, since 2021. - Malnutrition - As for hunger, Tedros said there were reports from El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur state, that people were eating animal feed to survive. Across the country, millions are going hungry and around 770,000 children under five years old are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year. "In the first six months of this year, nutrition centres supported by WHO have treated more than 17,000 severely malnourished children with medical complications. But many more are beyond reach," Tedros warned. The UN health agency's efforts were being held back by limited access and a lack of funding, he added, with the WHO having received less than a third of the money it has appealed for to provide urgent health assistance in Sudan. The WHO director-general said that as long as the violence continues in Sudan, "we can expect to see more hunger, more displacement and more disease".
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Revealing report shows how Aussies are glorifying gambling, as losses for one state skyrocket into the billions
A slew of trending videos showing punters bragging about their big wins on the pokies is slowly making its way across social media. Whether it's a video of a cocky professional poker player getting rolled after going all-in, or a humble punter down at the pub who's just made his year's rent in a lucky hit on Where's The Gold, clips promoting big money wins are pretty enticing. But some others are pretty grim. One video shows a man nonchalantly punching the 'confirm' button for a $50,000 deposit on the pokies. Another charming example shows a group of young blokes performing a … 'sex act' on a machine in an attempt to 'convince' it to play nice and pay up. The clips appear to everywhere, depending on your algorithm of course. But what might appear to be lighthearted fun on the surface is costing Victoria far more than it earns, according to a sombre new report from the nation's most prestigious body of doctors. It might not come as a surprise that Australia has a chronic gambling problem, but the numbers are still eye-watering. In the 2022-23 financial year, gambling losses in Victoria hit $7.4 billion, with the Victorian Government pocketing $2.47 billion of that in taxes. But the real price of the state's addiction comes in at an estimated $14.1 billion, according to the report commissioned by the state government. It goes without saying, but the damage inflicted by gambling losses goes far beyond mere financials. The social wreckage left in the wake of poker machines, online wagering apps, and an increasingly unregulated influencer ecosystem are creating serious headaches for legislators and anti-gambling lobbies. The report, titled The social costs of gambling to Victoria, adopts a public health lens, evaluating everything from direct financial losses to the psychological ripple effects of gambling addiction. 'People who gamble bear the greatest burden of total cost at around $7.3 billion (51.7 per cent), followed by affected others at $3.8 billion (26.6 per cent),' the report states. Governments addicted to the sugar hit Reform advocates say that state governments need to be doing more when it comes to assessing harm. But because it is such a massive cash cow for the government's coffers, gambling is given a wide berth. 'It's really fascinating that Victoria's the only state that does it,' says Martin Thomas, CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform. 'The other thing that's fascinating is in Victoria they lose about $7 billion a year to largely poker machines. And the government takes in about $2.4 billion.' It's get a bit more complex when you factor in the butterfly effect of a society-wide addiction problem. 'The losses caused by (gambling), when you think of the cost to the government through bankruptcies, the cost to the community of divorces, of people going to hospital because of domestic violence … even the governments are deluding themselves. 'If they're propping up their budgets with $2 billion, but the outgoings of that social impact that they have to pay for – hospitals and police among other things – is $14 billion. '(NSW has) a short-term approach that means they don't want to commission this research, because they don't want to know there's a problem. Because it would create a short-term black hole in their budgets.' $4.84bn in missed dinners It's not just the 'problem gamblers' dragging down the balance sheet. According to the researchers from CQUniversity Australia, a staggering 78.5 per cent of Victoria's losses come from low-to-high-risk gamblers combined — with problem gamblers alone responsible for just over half (53 per cent) of the total. The opportunity cost of excessive spending (the money that could have gone toward rent, food or savings) is estimated at $4.84 billion. Another $3.27 billion is attributed to emotional and psychological damage, and $2.53 billion to broken relationships and family harm. The modelling uses GDP per capita to place a monetary value on the lost years and quality of life, coming in at $97,435 per year, per person. Along with sports wagering, the pokies account for four-fifths of all gambling losses in Victoria. The situation has spiralled to a point where the state is now spending more on managing gambling harm than it is earning from it. The total cost has skyrocketed by 35 per cent since 2014–15, even after adjusting for inflation and population growth. The rise can be partly attributed to the rapidly evolving digital landscape we all exist in, where influencers livestream their pokies sessions or flex six-figure wins without showing the cratered bank accounts that follow. The report doesn't explicitly cover social media, but its findings come at a time when Instagram reels and TikToks of pokie wins are going viral. Some influencers reportedly pledge to keep playing until they gain a certain number of followers. Others boast about turning $5 into a house deposit. Because it is content posted by individuals, they are void of the obligatory 'gambling causes harm' messages that are required by law in gambling advertisements across traditional media. What can be done? The report models potential solutions borrowing from global case studies. Finland's reforms, including mandatory ID and loss limits, could save Victoria $2.87 billion, according to the report. Norway's restrictions, such as removing note acceptors and limiting operating hours, could slash costs by $3.46 billion. Western Australia's approach, limiting EGMs to a single casino, could result in $4.34 billion in savings, which translates to a whopping 65.9 per cent reduction. Tasmania's proposed precommitment scheme (a $5,000 annual limit on EGMs) would nearly wipe out the state's excess gambling spend, with $4.25 billion in projected savings. But no matter which way you slice it, there will always be a way to lose money gambling, especially for those stuck in an addiction cycle. How online punting took over Data released last year projected Australia to generate a staggering $15.16 billion in online gambling revenue in 2024. This positions Australia as the third-highest earner globally in a ranking of 61 countries, even among countries with significantly larger populations – meaning proportionally, we are by far the biggest gambling spenders. The research, conducted by Japanese Online Casino Guide and sourced from Statista, paints a vivid picture of the global online gambling landscape. The United States, with a population of 330 million, leads the pack with a projected revenue of $34 billion in 2024, representing a 20.3 per cent year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, population 66 million, holds the second spot with $20.79 billion, despite experiencing a relatively modest growth rate of 7.4 per cent. Australia's projected $15.16 billion in revenue marks a massive 10.5 per cent increase from the previous year, with growth projected to continue at an annual rate of 5.12 per cent until 2028. Even more startling is the fact 21 per cent of Australia's 21.3 million adults say they participate in online gambling despite the fact we are smack in the middle of one of the tightest economic periods in recent memory. 'Permanent' damage done The surge in online gambling revenue across multiple nations can be attributed to several factors. Analysts say the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with major technological leaps, contributed to the surge. With traditional betting avenues closed overnight throughout the lockdown periods, many turned to online platforms where they could flutter away cash with a quick tap on their phones. That shift that appears to have become 'permanent', according to Editor-in-Chief of the Japanese Online Casino Guide Emiko Matsuda. The global online gambling industry is now being tipped to triple by 2032, according to research from Statista. Japan ranks fourth on the list, with an anticipated $6.19 billion in online gambling revenue for 2024, reflecting a 12.7 per cent year-over-year growth. Germany, Canada, and France follow, with revenues of $5.65 billion, $4.19 billion, and $4.12 billion respectively. Canada boasts the highest percentage of online gamblers, with 48.6 per cent of its population expected to engage in online gambling in 2024. As Australia and other nations continue to see significant revenue from this sector, it will be crucial to monitor how governments and regulators respond to this growth. In 2023, the federal government introduced a bill to ban the use of credits cards in online gambling, with massive fines for betting companies that fail to implement the new restrictions.
