Australian and New Zealand journal of public health
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Aust N Z J Public Health · Jun 2012
The need to evaluate public health reforms: Australian perinatal mental health initiatives.
To describe the Australian perinatal mental health reforms and explore ways of improving surveillance of maternal mental health morbidity and mortality in this context. ⋯ Inclusion of key mental health items in the Perinatal National Minimum Dataset and use of data linkage techniques will allow for monitoring of trends in maternal mental health morbidity and mortality in response to the Australian reforms. Once this is implemented, cost-benefit analyses can be undertaken.
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Aust N Z J Public Health · Jun 2012
South Australian four-year-old Aboriginal children: residence and socioeconomic status influence weight.
Obesity rates have increased in children in Australia in the past 15 years. However, there is little available population data describing rates of overweight and obesity in Aboriginal children. ⋯ A significant investment is required to optimise the health of Aboriginal women before pregnancy and throughout pregnancy. A rethink may be necessary in the approach to dietary management and catch-up growth of Aboriginal children of low birth weight or having growth failure in early childhood.
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Aust N Z J Public Health · Jun 2012
Can we count? Enumerating births in two remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.
To examine the accuracy of birth counts for two remote Aboriginal communities in the Top End of the Northern Territory. ⋯ The differences in birth counts have important implications for local planning in relation to demand on housing, health and education services. The number of births is also a critical data requirement for measuring infant health status, including mortality rates, with measures of disadvantage strongly influenced by the number of births. Aboriginal mobility is not a 'data problem', but an integral part of Aboriginal life that needs to be catered for in administrative data collections in the Northern Territory.