NSWNMA Professional Officer, Dean Murphy spoke at the recent Mental Health and Drug & Alcohol Nurses’ Forum. He talks through the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s decision making framework.
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WHO recognises Traditional Chinese Medicine for first time
The World Health Organization will include information on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in its influential global medical compendium.
According to Nature magazine, the global reach of the compendium is “unparalleled”.
“The document categorizes thousands of diseases and diagnoses and sets the medical agenda in more than 100 countries. It influences how physicians make diagnoses, how insurance companies determine coverage, how epidemiologists ground their research and how health officials interpret mortality statistics,” it said in its September 2018 edition.
Chapter 26 of the compendium will feature, for the first time, a classification system on traditional medicine.
WHO has been avidly supporting traditional medicines, especially TCM, as a step towards its long-term goal of universal health care. According to the agency, traditional treatments are less costly and more accessible than Western medicine in some countries.
However, many Western-trained physicians and biomedical scientists view TCM practices as unscientific, unsupported by clinical trials, and sometimes dangerous.
In response, WHO told Nature that its Traditional Medicine Strategy “provides guidance to Member States and other stakeholders for regulation and integration, of safe and quality assured traditional and complementary medicine products, practices, and practitioners”.
It stressed that the goal of the strategy “is to promote the safe and effective use of traditional medicine by regulating, researching and integrating traditional medicine products, practitioners and practice into health systems, where appropriate”.
This article was originally published in the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association publication, Lamp.
TV and online advertising feeds children’s junk food habits
The results of a study of 2500 children commissioned by Cancer Research UK suggests using internet sites with advertising may be linked to children’s desire for high-sugar, high-fat and high-salt foods they see advertised.
The study found that each additional hour children spent watching commercial TV was linked to:
- a 22 per cent increased chance of children asking for food they’d seen advertised
- a 21 per cent increased chance of children buying food they’d seen advertised
- a 23 per cent increased chance of them consuming sugary drinks
- an 18 per cent increased chance of consuming pastries and sweet biscuits.
Each additional hour children spent online was linked to:
- a 19 per cent increased chance of children asking for food they’d seen advertised
- a 19 per cent increased chance of children buying food they’d seen advertised
- a 9 per cent increased chance of them consuming sugary drinks
- a 13 per cent increased chance of them consuming pastries and sweet biscuits
Those who used the internet more than three hours a day were 79 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than children who used the internet half an hour a day or less.
Cancer Research UK has called for the British government to ban junk food advertising altogether on TV before 9pm and bring in similar protection for children exposed to advertising online.
Letters to the Editor
Share your thoughts on this article or anything else important to you as nurses and midwives by sending a Letter to the Editor.
Four letters are published in the Lamp each month and the letter chosen as Letter of the Month will win a gift card. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. You can submit your letter by emailing the Lamp:lamp@nswnma.asn.au
Labor promises $400 million to reduce super gender gap
Women, on average, retire with $113,000 less in superannuation than men. Labor has announced measures to bridge the gap if they win office.
The two main measures announced by Labor are:
- to pay someone super when they are on parental leave; and
- to phase out the $450 per month minimum income threshold for eligibility for super, which will help people in part-time and casual work.
Deputy leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek told ABC News that over 200,000 people will benefit from being paid super on parental leave and hundreds of thousands more will gain from the phasing out of the $450 threshold.
“Women retire on average with a 40 per cent gap in superannuation. We know that older women are the fastest growing group of people moving into homelessness.
“Poverty in old age is completely unacceptable. We need to make sure that we reduce this gap in superannuation as one of the steps to ensure that men and women retire with dignity,” she said.
The independent Parliamentary Budget Office has costed the changes at $409.2 million over four years.
Industry Super Fund, HESTA, welcomed the changes.
“This is a comprehensive package of measures to address the gender super gap and it is pleasing to see reforms we’ve long supported taken up such as phasing out the antiquated $450 minimum monthly super threshold and considering the future super changes on women,” HESTA chief executive, Debby Blakey said.
Letters to the Editor
Share your thoughts on this article or anything else important to you as nurses and midwives by sending a Letter to the Editor.
Four letters are published in the Lamp each month and the letter chosen as Letter of the Month will win a gift card. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. You can submit your letter by emailing the Lamp:lamp@nswnma.asn.au
170,000 rally for a pay rise
Massive rallies of union members – “aimed directly at the Morrison government” – send home the message that workers want a fair go in the workplace.
The ACTU estimated that over 150,000 rallied in Melbourne in support of its Change the Rules campaign aimed at changing Australia’s workplace laws. More than 10,000 rallied in Sydney. There were other major rallies in Darwin, Wollongong, Cairns, Townsville and other regional centres.
Addressing the Melbourne rally ACTU secretary Sally McManus blasted the Scott Morrison-led Coalition government for failing to address the decline in living standards of Australian workers.
“They are the ones that can do something about penalty rates being cut,’’ she said. “They can do something about the minimum wage … we want them to make a big change in direction.”
Victoria’s Premier, Daniel Andrews, also addressed the Melbourne rally and took aim at large private companies raking in massive profits without adequately rewarding workers for their contribution.
“There is a real imbalance between corporate profits and some of the pay rises, particularly in the private sector,” he said.
The ACTU is calling for legislation to raise the minimum wage to 60 per cent of the median income and expand rights to bargain across sectors to address persistent low-wage growth.
“We can’t be stuck in the early 90s where there’s only one option and that’s enterprise bargaining,” said Sally McManus.
“We’re one of the few countries in the OECD that doesn’t give workers options to bargain across the sector – it’s actually quite normal for that to happen.”
Letters to the Editor
Share your thoughts on this article or anything else important to you as nurses and midwives by sending a Letter to the Editor.
Four letters are published in the Lamp each month and the letter chosen as Letter of the Month will win a gift card. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. You can submit your letter by emailing the Lamp:lamp@nswnma.asn.au
Podcast: Garling Report Podcast Series – Antony Sara
Antony Sara (President of ASMOF in NSW) looks back at the Garling Report 10 years on.