2021

Public Health Edition

A solution to animal-borne diseases?

PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS

on the big issue

Climate changeand health

Measuring the global burden of

mental health

‘Do your research’ has become one of the tropes of spirited debate on social media battlegrounds.For Dr Amalie Dyda, a Senior Lecturer at UQ’s School of Public Health, it is the people who are, indeed, inclined to conduct their own research, who are prime candidates for targeted health education regarding vaccination.

“That’s why my area of interest focuses on understanding attitudes of vaccine hesitancy rather than anti-vaccine stances,” Dr Dyda said.

“Information points to the fact that people who are stridently anti-vaccination will only become more entrenched in their belief and dig in their heels if you try to engage with them.

“However, there are people in the middle who are open to discussion, who want to clarify their concerns, and check out all the available facts.

“I look at identifying patterns in vaccine hesitancy and work with computer scientists to better collect data that can influence health approaches.”

While much of the public conversation about vaccine hesitancy is framed around philosophical opposition, Dr Dyda revealed that sub-optimal vaccination rates could also be linked to more practical difficulties.

“Situations which will commonly result in under-vaccination are those where the household environment is somewhat chaotic,” Dr Dyda said.

“The family might be moving frequently, it could be a household where it’s quite busy, or where there are multiple children and that amplifies the challenge in keeping track of records and appointments.

“There is some information out there to say the fourth child in a family can often be delayed in their vaccinations.

Vaccine HESITANCY

UQ’s Master of Public Health offers placement and research opportunities so that students get hands-on experience.

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VACCINE HESITANCY

While Dr Dyda has been able to identify geographical regions where vaccine hesitancy is heightened, she believes there is still so much to learn about the phenomenon.

Are there patterns related to cultural background? Are attitudes interlinked with education level or income bracket? Dr Dyda is excited for what researchers in the field will discover in coming years.

She admits her career pivot to working more closely with computer scientists came about partly due to fear.

“Originally, I was terrified of technology and data. Usually, however, if something scares me, I see it as a reason to do it,” Dr Dyda said.

“We’re still at the early stages of understanding how computer science can complement what we do.

“Health professionals and computer scientists come from completely different viewpoints in some circumstances, which is both refreshing and a challenge.

“I truly believe that we don’t even know what we are capable of achieving in this space just yet.”

“It’s not always the case that people don’t want vaccines, but sometimes they haven’t been able to prioritise them, or even remember them.”

The Master of Public Health is fully accredited by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). This enables you to fast track your registration as an IUHPE Registered Health Promotion Practitioner through the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) after you graduate.

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School of Public Health Courses

Master of Public Health Graduate Diploma of Public Health Graduate Certificate of Public Health

Master of Biostatistics Graduate Diploma of Biostatistics Graduate Certificate of Biostatistics

Master of Environmental Health Sciences Graduate Diploma of Environmental Health Sciences Graduate Certificate of Environmental Health Sciences

Master of Epidemiology Graduate Diploma of Epidemiology Graduate Certificate of Epidemiology

Understanding mental health a work in progress

It’s barely 30 years since we began considering mental illness as a leading cause of disability, Dr Alize Ferrari points out.Currently the mental disorders Team Lead within the Global Burden of Disease Study and based at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research and UQ’s School of Public Health, Dr Ferrari oversees the collection and analysis of data from 204 countries and territories.

“A lot of health metrics used to focus solely on mortality, but then in the 1990s the conversation shifted to disability with the first Global Burden of Disease study,” Dr Ferrari says.

“The Global Burden of Disease Study of 1990 was the first time we understood the wider

impact of mental health upon the community.

“Since then, we have become more precise with our methods and more

comprehensive in our understanding of the associated burdens.

“The ultimate questions are: ‘How do we help the health system to

better plan, and what should be the interventions to reduce these disorders?’.”

Dr Ferrari notes that mental disorders such as depression and anxiety are not only more prevalent than we may have thought in bygone eras, they are also leading causes of disability and are risk factors for other negative health outcomes such as suicide.

Clinically significant presentations of depression

and anxiety, where symptoms are severe enough to interfere with our daily functioning, were

in the top 10 leading causes of disability worldwide in 2019.

MASTER THE UNKNOWN 4UNDERSTANDING MENTAL HEALTH A WORK IN PROGRESS

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“Mental disorders are particularly challenging because they are both a risk factor for other health conditions, and also an outcome of other conditions,” Dr Ferrari says.

“They occupy a rare nexus.

“Although we can establish that factors such as conflict and violence result in elevated chances of mental disorders, we haven’t traditionally been good at quantifying all risk factors.

“Across time we also observe mental disorders causing more disability in low, middle and high income countries due to population growth and aging, as these countries become more successful at reducing the burden imposed by communicable diseases.

“It’s certainly tricky, but if we want to see an improvement, we need to work on preventative strategies, and I believe the next generation of researchers will play a crucial role here.”

Dr Ferrari is a shining example of how a career in academia can result in the most unexpected of career paths.

She was raised in the remote Seychelles archipelago off the east coast of Africa.

Growing up, she didn’t have immediate options for tertiary education – yet now finds herself filling a crucial role in a study of global importance.

As well as living in Australia, she has served with the University of Washington in the USA.

“Leaving the Seychelles was a massive step…geographically, culturally, and personally,” Dr Ferrari says.

UNDERSTANDING MENTAL HEALTH A WORK IN PROGRESS

“I want to make a significant difference to the world through my work.”

The Master of Epidemiology will develop your understanding of a range of principles, approaches and analytic strategies relevant to epidemiology, so you can make a meaningful contribution to the field.

That mobile phone that 70 per cent or more of you are holding in your hand right now – it can be both a giver and taker of life.

It’s a poignant thought offered by Professor Elizabeth Eakin, Head of The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health, as she discusses emerging facets in the field of health promotion.

“This generation spends a lot of time in front of a screen, which leads to sedentary behaviour. That’s one side of the equation,” Professor Eakin says.

“Then the other side of the equation is that mobile phones and digital devices are incredibly powerful tools in informing, reminding and monitoring people.

“You can push out messages via mobile phone which would be extremely difficult to get in front of some people otherwise.”

Health promotion is a field you can arrive at via a multitude of pathways.

Professor Eakin was on her way to a career in psychology when a lightbulb moment steered her towards public health and, in particular, understanding how she could encourage healthy habits in others.

“One day a lecturer came into our class and said words to the effect of ‘It’s all good being a psychologist talking to people one-at-a-time, but we have persistent, widespread problems that require attention on a much larger scale’,” Professor Eakin says.

“At that moment it dawned on me that I had the power to help a much larger number of individuals.

“The opportunity to support individuals and create healthy behaviours is what has driven me.”

Finding what triggers changes in human behaviours is an intriguing aspect.

For some health challenges it might be financial incentives that determine the outcome, as proven by the success of higher taxation of cigarettes and alcohol.

Leading humansto healthy behaviours

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In other battles, communication and learning from social scientists are the keys. Consider the ongoing efforts to destigmatise mental health issues and sexually transmitted infections.

Then there are other challenges that are persistent and resistant – such as obesity – that require a combination of approaches and constant revision to keep abreast of contemporary attitudes.

“The wide-ranging conversations you encounter, they exhibit the highly-connected, real-world problems that we are constantly working amidst.

“In a course like UQ’s Master of Public Health you aren’t just interacting with other disciplines, but also many foreign students, mature-aged students and professionals who bring a wealth of knowledge and perspectives.”

LEADING HUMANS TO HEALTHY BEHAVIOURS

“One of the exciting things about working in public health is that it’s a meeting point between so many disciplines. You might be working in a team with clinicians, nutritionists and exercise scientists for example.”

The Master of Public Health program is the first in Asia Pacific to have achieved Curriculum Validation from the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA), one of the world’s leading accrediting bodies for MPH programs.

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92% of all UQ postgraduates say their course learnings were valuable for the future (2020 Graduate Outcomes)

UQ is ranked 2nd in Asia-Pacific for Public Health(2021 Shanghai Academic Rankings of World Universities)

Does somebody as passionate about the environment as Associate Professor Linda Selvey grow frustrated at climate change inaction?

For the UQ School of Public Health Teaching and Research Academic, it’s well beyond that point.

“I’m far more than frustrated. Alarmed would probably be a more fitting word,” Dr Selvey says.

“In many regions, global warming has already surpassed the critical marker of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“Our politicians have responded to the economic downturn brought on by COVID by investing in gas, which is disastrous for our planet.

“A lot needs to happen in a very short space of time to address the threats.

Indirect health impacts from

CLIMATE CHANGE a present danger

“I’m not exaggerating. The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) agrees with me. It’s very compelling… there is nothing more important than saving animals, plants and civilisation from extinction.”

A former chief executive of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Dr Selvey is also a former executive director of Population Health Queensland.

Her passion developed in childhood, when she frequently read magazine New Scientist, and was inspired by her father’s efforts in understanding and caring for nature.

Like her father, a surgeon by profession, Dr Selvey has juggled her environmental conscience with an appreciation of biology, prevalent health issues, and a better world for all.

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“I’ve heard it said before that the climate crisis will reach a stage where it is the equivalent of the two World Wars and The Great Depression combined.”

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“The clear health threat of climate change is the impact of extreme heat on the population, experienced more frequently and over prolonged periods,” Dr Selvey says.

“However, the indirect impacts are substantial. It is felt in our food and agricultural systems, where extreme weather brings drought or cyclones that destroy food supply, which in turn changes our nutrition and cost-of-living pressures.

“Less accessible water is another issue. In fact, the more we make whole tracts of land unlivable, the more pressures we will feel through forced migration, conflict over available resources, and increased population density in specific places.

“Not only will you have the possibility of resulting wars, but you will see an increase in infectious diseases from different bacteria being introduced to areas they didn’t permeate before.”

Dr Selvey says the compounding negative impacts of climate change will put communities under unprecedented pressures and into a perpetual state of shock.

“In terms of areas of research areas that will open up because of this, I think we’re going to look at how we can become more resilient in the face of unexpected events, and how we can live healthily with less.

“Eco-anxiety and depression about the state of the environment already affects people, and it’s definitely an area that requires more research, particularly as social pressures build and mental health is challenged.”

Examine environmental health risks facing the modern world and develop the ability to manage these complex health challenges in the Master of Environmental Health Sciences.

INDIRECT HEALTH IMPACTS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE A PRESENT DANGER

SOLUTION TO ANIMAL-BORNE DISEASES COULD BE “HUNDREDS OF KILOMETRES AWAY”

An upsurge of interest in animal-to-human disease transmission could well be expected in the midst of COVID-19.Known more correctly as zoonoses, these diseases signal a stark warning in the mind of Associate Professor Simon Reid, a UQ School of Public Health expert.

“If you look at systems where a decline in mammalian population has occurred due to viruses, the period before was characterised by unsustainable population growth,” Dr Reid says.

“The environment, in these instances, ran out of an ability to house and feed those mammals, and withstand their activity.

“In many cases, the virus was already present, but became more prevalent as the population became unsustainable.

“It’s like nature has a balancing mechanism.”

Although alarm bells have been ringing from the scientific community about the likelihood of destructive zoonotic pandemics, Dr Reid does not blame the average person on the street for failing to take notice.

“People might be ignorant to the threat, yes, but the complacency had actually been in the health system and the dis-investment that has been ongoing in that sector,” Dr Reid says,

“If you look back through history, a few times each century you get these pandemics – although with three major zoonotic outbreaks in the past 21 years, their emergence does seem to be accelerating.

“It was sort of ignored, and also hard to prepare for, because it involves completely reimagining what people think of everyday life.”

Solution to animal-borne diseases could be “hundreds of kilometres away”

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Dr Reid is a champion of the One Health concept – or as he also refers to it, ‘systems thinking’ – in addressing large-scale threats to human health.

One Health bears in mind that while microbiology, public health and zoology all play a part in understanding and limiting COVID-like outbreaks, the actual solution might belong to a completely different field.

“If you take the Hendra virus as a close-to-home example, it resulted in a horse trainer and veterinarian both losing their lives in Brisbane,” Dr Reid says.

“That came about via flying foxes that infected horses, which then infected humans.

“You can develop a vaccine and treatments for the condition, but that’s a finger-in-the-dyke solution, because you’re not addressing the cause.

“The solution might not be in a laboratory… it might be in a town planning office in a completely different city. That demonstrates what the One Health ideology is all about.”

Dr Reid said that graduates who understood how to “think in systems” would have greater ability to lead projects and teams, be able to communicate better with a wider variety of professions, and increase their market value.

“In a lot of zoonotic diseases, they’re caused by animals which have been forced out of their natural habitat and sometimes travelled hundreds of kilometres to bring them in closer proximity with humans and other living beings.

With options to study online, on campus, or a combination of both, you can structure your study to suit your needs.

MASTER THE UNKNOWN 11SOLUTION TO ANIMAL-BORNE DISEASES COULD BE “HUNDREDS OF KILOMETRES AWAY”

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