Latest Posts

50 Years of Newborn Screening

Newborn screening is one of the most successful public health programs in Australia. Every year, Victoria’s newborn screening program prevents serious childhood disability or death in about 80 Victorian children. The program is run on behalf of the Victorian government by Victorian Clinical Genetics Services in the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the program and today’s Grand Round is part of a one day symposium celebrating the history and achievements of the program. A panel of speakers will reflect on what newborn screening has meant for them, how Victoria’s program developed and is currently run and what the future may hold.

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Priorities and challenges in global child health in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals

While there was tremendous improvement in global child health during the Millennium Development Goal era, huge gaps remain in access to healthcare, nutrition and sanitation etc. A number of lessons from the MDGs and key demographic and epidemiologic trends in the last decade have increased our understanding of the role of health in development and the priorities in global child health. Priorities in health and development were recently articulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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Immunotherapy for refractory leukaemia brings a new chance of cure and complex ethical issues

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most common malignancy in children. Although 5 years event-free survival rates reach 90%, some children still succumb to the disease and others achieve cure with significant late effects. Improving on this will require alternative treatments. This Grand Round will describe new options for refractory disease, and discuss some of the ethical aspects of embarking on these new treatment options.

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Early life origins of adult lung disease – a new paradigm of lung growth

Our understanding of lung growth through childhood and adolescence and the impact of disease has changed in recent years. New measurement techniques have shown alveolarisation to continue through adolescence. A number of longitudinal studies within the Campus have provided invaluable information on the outcome of childhood asthma into the adult years which, when combined with the outcome studies of extreme prematurity provide new insight into lung growth. Care of the growing lung is important to ensure optimal lung growth through childhood and adolescence to prevent early onset of lung disease in adulthood.

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“I did it my way…” – Variation in paediatric clinical care; what, why and where to now?

Variation in care has been long recognised and is often a part of good clinical practice. However, sometimes variation in care is unwarranted and can lead to variation in quality of care and increased costs. The inaugural Australian Atlas of Variation in Healthcare will be launched later this month by the federal minister for health, Susan Ley. Harriet Hiscock will present data on variation in care for some of the paediatric conditions included in the Atlas and discuss reasons why such variation might be occurring.

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Anecdotes vs. data: can health services research lead to evidence-based ED policies?

Surprising to many in Australia, the age band with by far the greatest number of Emergency Department (ED) presentations is that of children 0-4 years of age. Other paediatric age bands are also among the highest in absolute numbers of ED presentations. Understanding the reasons why parents seek ED care for their child for lower urgency conditions, the actual availability of GP services and patterns of use of alternative emergency services can assist in the efficient organisation and delivery of health services for children in Australia.

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Global Surgery: affordable and indispensable

Surgical care has long been viewed by donors as too costly and complex for low-resource health systems, apart from narrowly focused programs such as surgical contraception. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery is an extensive review of the need for surgical care in low-resource health systems, the cost-effectiveness of these services, and the Commission’s framework for surgery that is safe, affordable, and timely.

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Probiotic Use in Preterm Infants

Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits on the host. Their exact mechanism of action is currently unclear, however, their beneficial effects are likely to result from a variety of actions including, alteration of the innate commensal microbiota, modification of gut barrier function, and modulation of intestinal immune responses.

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Food Allergy Epidemic – is it unique to Australia

The rise in food allergy in developed countries is an intriguing phenomenon that has captured the attention of both the medical research community and the media. Although we need to be circumspect about the extent to which it has risen and which countries are most affected, there is little doubt that IgE mediated food allergy and anaphylaxis were rarely reported 50 years ago but are now commonly described. The drivers for this modern day epidemic are poorly understood and indeed it is not clear whether this phenomenon is part of a 2nd wave epidemic of allergy following on from the general rise in allergic disease that was noted around the world at the end of the 21st century or whether the new food allergy epidemic is due to a new set of unique factors

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