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PhD candidate published in Human Fertility and The ConversationCoinciding with the publication of her paper in Human Fertility, PhD candidate Ezra Kneebone was the lead author of a piece in The Conversation on what she found in her survey of the decision making of more than 300 people who were seeking or had used a surrogate to have a baby. NOVEMBER, 2023 Global and Women's Health team win School Excellence AwardThe Global and Women’s Health Unit was honoured with the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion in Research Award – part of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Excellence Awards – on 12 September. Congratulations to Prof Jane Fisher and the whole team! SEPTEMBER, 2023 Solo mums by choiceDr Karin Hammarberg featured on the ABC's Ladies, We Need To Talk program on August 22, exploring what it's really like to choose to parent on your own. AUGUST, 2023 New book celebrates achievements of older womenDr Maggie Kirkman spoke to national media outlets about her new book – Time of Our Lives – released on International Women's Day, that showcases the achievements made by Australian women after they've turned 70. The inspiring book documents the impressive exploits of 20 older women, vehemently challenging the implicit assumption that women past a certain age don't contribute to society. Read about it in The Conversation, and listen to her on Radio National's Life Matters program. MARCH, 2023 Senate Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive HealthcareThe Global and Women’s Health team’s submission to the Senate Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive Healthcare (submission 9) was covered widely on ABC news, with more than 150 radio airings in February. Dr Shelly Makleff has helped educate the public about ongoing challenges with abortion access in Australia, contributing to an education resource and an article in The Conversation. She has also spoken about abortion stigma and barriers to access on RN Life Matters , ABC World Today and community and regional radio. FEBRUARY, 2023 Women are often told their fertility 'falls off a cliff' at 35, but is that right?Dr Karin Hammarberg explains that while women's fertility does decline with age, the fertility cliff concept is not entirely accurate. Read more in The Conversation. NOVEMBER, 2022 The crisis of perinatal mental health requires collaborative solutionsThe blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) recently covered the MOMENTUM USAID perinatal mental health theory of change webinar, which Professor Jane Fisher spoke at. Since 1994, ECSP has actively pursued the connections between the environment, health, population, development, conflict, and security. ECSP brings together scholars, policymakers, media, and practitioners through events, research, publications, multimedia content, and an award-winning blog. OCTOBER, 2022 Webinar: Better Policy for Better Mental Health in AustraliaThis 60-minute webinar, a partnership between Better Governance and Policy and Global and Women's Health, explores the state of mental health in Australia, and asks the questions: how can better policy promote better mental health in Australia? And can better mental health policy effectively reduce the prevalence of mental health-related illnesses in Australia? Watch the webinar recording here . OCTOBER, 2022 Problems conceiving are not just about women. Male infertility is behind 1 in 3 IVF cyclesDr Karin Hammarberg provides commentary around new data which reveals one third of all IVF cycles performed in 2020 included a diagnosis of male infertility in this piece in The Conversation. OCTOBER, 2022 Dr Karin Hammarberg at FSANZDr Karin Hammarberg recently attended the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) held in Sydney. The conference had a record 800 attendees and featured many national and international experts. Karin was invited to speak in a clinical session, What women know about elective egg freezing and what they need to know, and spoke in a counselling session about Outcomes of retrospective donor legislation introduced in Victoria, Australia in 2017. AUGUST, 2022 Global and Women's Health team members present at the Reproductive Rights and Abortion ConferenceThree Global and Women's Health team members attended the Reproductive Rights and Abortion Conference 2022 in Brisbane in August. The conference brought together researchers, activists and health care professionals from around Australia. Shelly Makleff presented on Lived experiences of abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, and Natasha Davison presented on Establishing the preventive sexual and reproductive healthcare needs of women from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds in Victoria. AUGUST, 2022 When mothers suffer, babies suffer. It's time the world realised this, say maternal mental health expertsExperts at a roundtable hosted by CNN's gender reporting team – As Equals – discuss the prevalence of perinatal mood disorders, their root causes, the challenges in diagnosing and treating them, and potential solutions. Professor Jane Fisher was invited to contribute to the discussion. MAY, 2022 Don’t presume women with chronic conditions don’t want babiesIn a blog for the Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland, Dr Karin Hammarberg shares insights from a literature review revealing that women with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis might miss out on preconception care because health professionals don’t ask them whether they want to become pregnant in the foreseeable future. MAY, 2022 World Health Day 2022 webinar: No mental health without planetary healthOn World Health Day, Monash University and Beyond Blue explored the links between climate change, mental health and wellbeing. As a panellist on this webinar, Professor Jane Fisher explored the links between mental health and planetary health. Watch it here on Youtube. APRIL, 2022 Masada Early Parenting Centre Research WebinarProfessor Jane Fisher and Dr Karin Stanzel were invited to join a panel discussing a current research project at Masada's Early Parenting Centre. The panel discussed how the Early Parenting Centre is unique to Australia – Professor Fisher and her team hope to show that this approach is highly beneficial to women and children, and doesn’t require a long admission. Additionally, even people who present with complex issues (e.g. borderline personality characteristics, disturbed mood, and anxiety disorders) can highly benefit from this program. There have been no other studies of this scope and rigor in this sector. Watch the webinar on YouTube. FEBRUARY, 2022 Glimpsing a life after COVIDProfessor Jane Fisher discusses Monash's Fire to Flourish survey and how women have coped through the pandemic. Read more: Jean Hailes website. FEBRUARY, 2022 | Life and Other Catastrophes on ABC Radio MelbourneProfessor Jane Fisher has a regular segment called Life and Other Catastrophes (Wednesdays, from 10am) on ABC Radio Melbourne's Mornings with Rafael Epstein exploring the complications that arise in our relationships, friendships, and daily lives. Dr Karin Hammarberg presents at ESHRE Campus in LyonDr Karin Hammarberg was an invited speaker at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) Campus Workshop 'Fertility education and reproductive decision-making: why, who, when and how?' held in Lyon, France 26-27/10. This was a multidisciplinary meeting with presentations on the latest insights on the need for more fertility education initiatives, how effective they are, and how to improve their delivery. OCTOBER, 2023 Dr Karin Hammarberg discusses egg freezing and fertilityDr Karin Hammarberg appeared on ABC's The Drum on April 28, to join in the discussion on the rising number of women in Australia freezing their eggs. (The story starts at the 29:30 minute mark.) Karin also commented in this MamaMia article on egg freezing and fertility. MAY, 2023 Fertility test under scrutinyA so-called 'egg timer test' – which gives an indication of how many eggs a woman has left – may not be all it's cracked up to be, cautions Dr Karin Hammarberg in this ABC article looking at the fertility test that's risen in popularity. The test, often used in IVF treatment, measures the level of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in a woman's blood to estimate her ovarian reserve. MARCH, 2023 We asked people why they don't donate their eggs or sperm. Their responses could help us attract more donorsThe demand for donor eggs and sperm outstrips supply in Australia. Dr Karin Hammarberg and colleagues interviewed 1,000 people about whether they had ever donated gametes (eggs or sperm) and if they hadn’t, the reasons why. Read more in The Conversation. NOVEMBER, 2022 Launching the Perinatal Mental Health Theory of ChangeOn 20 October 2022, USAID's Country and Global Leadership arm, MOMENTUM, collaborated with global experts on perinatal mental health (PMH) to deliver a webinar introducing a global theory of change. Professor Jane Fisher was the first of eight speakers, setting the stage by discussing the worldwide occurrence of mental health problems experienced by women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. The launch was followed by a discussion on how to align behind a shared global vision to improve maternal and newborn health. Watch the webinar recording here. OCTOBER, 2022 Addressing violence against women and children through Early Childhood Development programsThe Global and Women's Health team delivered a presentation on the Learning Clubs VIetnam project at the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum in Mexico in September 2022. Dr Shelly Makleff presented on behalf of Ha Tran, Dr Thach Tran, Hau Nguyen, and Professor Jane Fisher – Addressing violence against women and children through Early Childhood Development programs: Considerations for engaging fathers based on evaluation of the Learning Clubs (Early Journey of Life) program in Vietnam. You can learn more about the work of the Hanoi RTCCD to engage fathers in this 5-minute video. OCTOBER, 2022 Enabling social supports for humanitarian migrantsGlobal and Women's Health research assistant Varni Doma was a panellist for a webinar hosted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies on 3 August. She presented the findings from her Master's project on the relationship between social support and mental health of humanitarian migrants resettled across Australia in a facilitated discussion with three other panellists. AUGUST, 2022 Thinking about freezing your eggs to have a baby later? Here are 3 numbers to help you decideDr Karin Hammarberg champions the need for factual and realistic information for women to be able to make informed decisions about what is possible with elective egg freezing in a piece in The Conversation. AUGUST, 2022 How Roe v Wade will make abortion stigma in Australia even worseAccess to abortion and the stigma for those who go through it are still big problems in Australia. ABC Life Matters speaks with Dr Shelly Makleff about her research which finds judgement from health professionals and others in the community only makes abortion access harder. JUNE, 2022 In Roe v Wade’s shadow, there’s an urgent need to tackle abortion stigma in AustraliaDr Shelly Makleff shares insights from a study conducted by the Global and Women's Health unit, which highlights the pervasive stigma and roadblocks to Australian women and pregnancy-capable people seeking abortion care. Read more in Monash Lens. MAY, 2022 Intimate partner violence linked to poor pregnancy health in VanuatuDr Stephanie McKelvie concentrated her BMedSci Honours project on researching the prevalence, patterns and determinants of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by women during pregnancy in Vanuatu. The study, which was published in the Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, is the first to detail findings about the adverse effects of IPV on pregnancy health in Vanuatu. Read more in Monash Lens. MAY, 2022 Why do women still believe in the fertility myth?In this Feed Play Love podcast Dr Karin Hammarberg discusses the myth about fertility that persists for both men and women. Karin talks about how likely it is for a woman to fall pregnant after 40 and what needs to change to allow women to have babies when they are most likely to fall pregnant. MARCH, 2022 VicHealth Health Promotion AwardsProfessor Jane Fisher and ABC radio host Raf Epstein were recipients of the 2021 VicHealth Health Promotion Award for Outstanding Media Reporting. Jane co-hosts ABC Radio's Life and Other Catastrophes weekly program. The segment – which celebrated it's tenth anniversary recently – covers aspects of health and wellbeing, looking at mental and physical health, relationships, habits as well as social pressures. It won for serving as a resource, a comfort, and an outlet for listeners as they are encouraged to call in to share their experiences. FEBRUARY, 2022 Disaster Survivors feel more prepared for the next one but are often left out of planningGlobal and Women's Health is part of Monash University's Fire to Flourish project. More than 3,500 Australians were asked about their perceptions of preparedness and resilience to disasters through the Fire to Flourish survey. Read about the findings in this Conversation article. FEBRUARY, 2022 |