Research > Research Strength: GlobalHealth@UNSW
Research Strength: GlobalHealth@UNSW
Towards GlobalHealth@UNSW: Developing Strategic Partnerships for Health and Development
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Background
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is one of Australia's leading research and teaching universities. Within the University are a range of individuals, Schools and Centres with experience and expertise in global health.
GlobalHealth@UNSW represents a critical mass of researchers, teachers, development workers and practitioners who are committed to partnering with others to enhance the quality of global health and development. GlobalHealth@UNSW is a functional network of members who have demonstrated expertise in strengthening health systems and in researching and teaching around global health and development issues.
As a means of introducing GlobalHealth@UNSW we describe our areas of interest and expertise, elaborate our approach, and present our members. We highlight a number of areas in which expertise exists and can be further consolidated and extended by investment in GlobalHealth@UNSW.
Aims of GlobalHealth@UNSW
Working at a global level, and with an emphasis on the challenges facing low- and middle –income countries, the aims of GlobalHealth@UNSW are:
- Through education, training and technical collaboration, to build on evidence and best international public health practice towards enhancing national capacity in health policy development, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
- Through research and information dissemination, to generate and share new knowledge across the spectrum of disciplines concerned with health and development
- Through international collaboration, to foster partnerships and bring attention and resources to respond more effectively to global health issues, in particular those affecting the most vulnerable populations; and
- To build collaborations and partnerships with other institutions similarly committed to advancing effective responses to Global health issues.
Approaches
GlobalHealth@UNSW has an appreciation of the challenges to development in the Asia Pacific as well as more broadly. The Network contributes to building leadership and expertise in partner institutions and countries. Many individuals associated with GlobalHealth@UNSW have a commitment and interest in working across the spectrum of policy, services, and community level, with an emphasis on facilitating system learning to more effectively tackle health and development challenges. Enhanced human resource development and management are seen as core to tackling health system problems: the recently established Human Resources for Health Knowledge Hub at UNSW will contribute to addressing key gaps in knowledge around human resources for health and will facilitate access to available experience and insights across the Asia-Pacific.
Members of GlobalHealth@UNSW work in partnership at all levels, and seek to build on, and enhance, existing capacity. The team have a reputable track record in working around social justice and the promotion of equity, with an emphasis on gender equity, poverty reduction and human rights. GlobalHealth@UNSW aims to use methods and approaches which simultaneously contribute to the evidence base and inform policy, strategy and implementation. Our research, teaching and related activities seek to enhance the health of people in the Asia Pacific and further afield, with growing interests in Africa for example, to deliver better health services and systems for the benefit of all. We see knowledge, ideas, concepts and tools being of practical use in solving problems in local, national and regional settings.
The groups and individuals associated with GlobalHealth@UNSW seek to ensure that research feeds effectively into policy and practice improvements and are familiar with using a range of mechanisms to communicate ideas and shape practice. GlobalHealth@UNSW members engage in policy development and program design, implementation and evaluation. Members work with communities, government, aid agencies including AusAID, NGOs, UN agencies, and service providers. Strengthening health systems is the key to addressing priority problems such as the pressing needs of women and children in the region, ensuring service delivery and effective governance in disrupted and fragile settings, addressing the intensifying burdens of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, the ongoing challenges of promoting mental health, controlling obesity, tobacco, alcohol and other drug problems, managing diabetes, responding to the increasing burden of injuries and violence and preparing for emerging threats to public health security, including pandemic influenza. Only in the presence of well functioning health systems can country priorities and needs be identified, strategies developed and implemented, and all partners engaged in both upstream preventive and downstream service delivery and rehabilitation needs.
GlobalHealth@UNSW Expertise and Experience
UNSW has an established track record in Health Management training in the Asia Pacific region, as well as in Public Health more generally. We have a deep commitment to addressing all dimensions of health system development and support, and have a commitment to working in difficult settings, including in fragile states, to promote equity and social justice.
Team members have expertise in:
- health policy, planning and strategy development
- human resources management and development
- knowledge management to improve capability, quality and the evidence base for decision-making
- priority health problems: health promotion, HIV/AIDS, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, tobacco control, managing alcohol and drugs problems
- health impact assessment and the promotion of equity
- health, human rights and development
- sensitivity to culture and gender issues
- public health emergencies
Our staff have worked in many resource constrained environments, including work in the Asia-Pacific region (Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands), South East Asia and the Mekong (Lao, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand) and in fragile states (Timor-Leste, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia). Our commitment to development principles is evident in our long-term relationships with partners in a number of countries such as the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Through our programs and development activities, those associated with GlobalHealth@UNSW, can also demonstrate a strong network of alumni in Asia-Pacific countries, and a range of ongoing partnerships with institutions in the region.
While GlobalHealth@UNSW is based at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, it also interacts with a wide range of other Centres and Initiatives around UNSW. The Health and Human Rights Initiative brings together those linked with the Faculties of Medicine, Arts and Law. Three national research centres are involved in a wide range of international and global health activities: two are internationally recognised for their work on all aspects of HIV/AIDS research, service provision and policy - the National Centre in HIV Social Research (NCHSR) and the National Centre for HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR). They have significant projects in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The Injury Risk Management Research Centre is a cross-Faculty initiative with emerging interests in global health. The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and the Population Mental Health Centre work actively in a wide range of countries. The Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity Research has developed unique links in the region as well as in Australia, in relation to Health Impact Assessment. Faculties other than Medicine are also actively involved in international health and development. These include the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences which houses the National Centre for HIV Social Research, the Centre for Refugee Research, and the Social Policy Research Centre, the Faculty of Engineering which has a strong interest in appropriate technologies for delivering water and sanitation in difficult settings, the Faculty of the Built Environment which has focused some attention on post-disaster planning and the Faculty of Law with strong interest in health and human rights and in disabilities.
The institutional environment in which GlobalHealth@UNSW operates enables it to deliver high level education and training in public health and health systems, with an emphasis on equity, social justice, culture, gender and human rights. Those contributing to developing GlobalHealth@UNSW attract a range of high-quality PhD and other research students and are committed to high quality research and evaluation alongside building the capacity of other institutions in the Asia-Pacific.