The International Year of the Nurse and Midwife

07/13/20 • 41 min

Contain This: The Latest in Global Health Security

Welcome to Episode #10 of Contain This, brought to you by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security and hosted by Adam Craig.
On the episode we have Elizabeth Iro - Chief Nursing Officer, World Health Organisation and Michele Rumsey - Director, World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery & Health Development at University of Technology Sydney.

Elizabeth, a Cook Islander, is the Chief Nurse at the World Health Organisation in Geneva. Prior to joining the WHO, she served as the Secretary of Health in the Cook Islands and before that was the country’s Chief Nurse. In these roles she spearheaded health system reform with a focus on planning and workforce development. Nursing is in Elizabeth’s blood. In this episode she speaks passionately about the role nurses from around the globe are playing, under increasingly stressful conditions, to ensure health systems continue to function and health security for all is achieved.
Michele, also started her career in nursing. She took this experience to the global stage and now as an academic, advises on international health care and policy in the areas of human resources for health, health system strengthening, capacity development, stakeholder participation and regulation. Michele is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development based at UTS. The Centre is the only one of its kind in the South Pacific. Under Michele’s leadership the Centre has carried out 50 projects in 25 countries. She was awarded the UTS Human Rights Award in 2014 for her work in the South Pacific.
This episode celebrates 2020, The International Year of Nurses and Midwives. Elizabeth and Michele reflect on what this year means to the nursing profession, they talk about the challenges of being a nurse during a pandemic and propose actions that ought to be taken to address issues as broad as chronic work force shortages, achieving universal health coverage, gender inequity and the impacts of power imbalances in nursing and health care more broadly.

For more information on the State of the World’s Nursing Report, click on the link below

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/nursing-report-2020

For more information on a WHO Report related to the nursing workforce recommended by the guests, please click on the link below:

https://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/en/

For more information about the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, visit our website https://indopacifichealthsecurity.dfat.gov.au.
Connect with us on Twitter via @CentreHealthSec.
We air an episode every fortnight so make sure you subscribe to receive our updates.
Enjoy,
Contain This Team

For more information on the State of the World’s Nursing Report, click on the link below

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/nursing-report-2020

For more information on a WHO Report related to the nursing workforce recommended by the guests, please click on the link below:

https://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/en/

Previous Episode

Wet Markets with Mark Schipp and Anna Okello

Welcome to Episode #9 of Contain This, brought to you by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security and hosted by Adam Craig.
On the episode we have Dr Mark Schipp and Dr Anna Okello.
In 2011 Mark was appointed Chief Veterinary Officer of Australia. He was also appointed as Australia’s Delegate at the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) where he is also the elected President of the OIE World Assembly. Mark leads Australia’s national responses to emergency animal disease incursions. He works to strengthen the veterinary services of countries in our region so they are able to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases of concern to both human and animal health. He has been active in leading Australian agriculture’s response to the global threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Anna is the Research Program Manager of Livestock Systems at Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), providing Animal Health and One Health expertise to the portfolio. Since graduating with a veterinary degree from Melbourne University in 2002, the majority of Anna’s career has been spent working in the veterinary public health and livestock development sectors, including 10 years researching zoonotic Neglected Tropical Disease control in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Anna completed a PhD in political science (public health policy) at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for African Studies in 2012, and has worked in various project management and technical advisory roles for international NGOs, the Australian government, the World Health Organization and the University of Edinburgh.
In this episode, Adam, Mark and Anna discuss biosecurity, wet markets and their respective roles in Australia's response to disease risk.
For more information about the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, visit our website https://indopacifichealthsecurity.dfat.gov.au.
Connect with us on Twitter via @CentreHealthSec.
We air an episode every fortnight so make sure you subscribe to receive our updates.
Enjoy,
Contain This Team

Next Episode

Health Security Cooperation in Papua New Guinea

In this episode we talk to Dr Leanne Robinson and Dr Moses Laman and discuss the emergence of drug resistant malaria in PNG, and the work they are involved in through the STRIVE PNG project; a project that builds on decades of close working ties between PNG and Australian scientists, and an initiative that the Indo Pacific Centre for Health Security is proud to have helped establish.

Leanne is one of Australia's leading vector borne disease researchers. She is the head of the Vector Borne Disease and Tropical Public Health Group at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne. She has spent 10 years living and working in PNG. In parallel to her groundbreaking research, Leanne is committed to developing national capacity to conduct research across the countries of the Indo Pacific.

Moses is a principal Research Fellow, and the current head of the Vector Borne Disease Unit at the Papua New Guinea Institute for Medical Research. He is a young affiliate of the Third World Academy of Science, a general paediatrician and adjunct senior research fellow at the School of Medicine and pharmacology at the University of Western Australia.

In the past 10 days, the total number of COVID-19 cases in PNG has risen past 60. As the country works to contain the outbreak. The PNG government is assessing the situation and alongside the WHO, the Australian Government and other development partners, is bolstering emergency response efforts. This interview was recorded before the current increasing COVID-19 cases in PNG. It shows how strong relationships have been built between Australian institutions and the PNG government to anticipate and arrest infectious diseases within the country.

Contain This: The Latest in Global Health Security - The International Year of the Nurse and Midwife

Transcript

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The views presented in this podcast are the views of the host and guests. They do not necessarily represent the views or the official position of the Australian Government.Welcom