In early February, Professor Christine Jorm, Director of the NSW Regional Health Partners and Convenor of the Spinifex Network interim steering committee visited Western Australia.
The Rural Health and Medical Research Network – the Spinifex Network is a national alliance to unite rural voices across Australia, to pursue new and creative approaches to place-based health and medical research in order to address the health inequities experienced by rural communities.
On average, Australians living in rural and remote areas have shorter lives, higher levels of disease and injury and poorer access to and use of health services, compared with people living in metropolitan areas.
During her visit, Professor Jorm was invited by the WA Centre for Rural Health to present to prominent rural health and medical researchers within the McCusker Auditorium at the University of Western Australia in Nedlands, Perth.
Professor Jorm presented on the topic ‘Establishing an Australian Rural Health and Medical Research Network – is there a role for Western Australia in the Spinifex Network?’
Guests attended from a range of WA universities, Rural Health West, the WA Country Health Service and the Raine Medical Research Foundation.
Professor Christine Jorm said ‘If you work in health outside the cities, or it touches your life at some point, you may get a sense of what it's not doing. And we don't simply need medical research that's about these Australians. We need it to be done where they live.’
‘For regional Australia to get the health it deserves, I believe we need to look to the bush,’ Professor Jorm said.
Director of the WA Centre for Rural Health Professor Sandra Thompson said ‘The time has well and truly come for dedicated approaches to improving the health of rural populations and this is particularly important in Western Australia.’
‘We are keen to be part of the efforts that Professor Jorm is leading around reframing how health and economic outcomes can be improved for rural communities. High quality training of health professionals as researchers, support for Indigenous researchers and rurally-based researchers are essential for this.’
For more information about the Spinifex Network, visit the website: https://spinifexnetwork.com.au.
Photo Caption: UWA Head of School Population & Global Health Professor Colleen Fisher, with the Director of the NSW Regional Health Partners Professor Christine Jorm and Director of the WA Centre for Rural Health Professor Sandra Thompson at The University of Western Australia in Perth.
Media contact: Mia Jeffrey, Marketing and Communications Officer - (08) 9956 0225 - Mia.Jeffrey@uwa.edu.au