Since 2000, ophthalmologists providing clinical services in Madang, Papua New Guinea, have become aware of local adult prisoners presenting with gradual vision loss. An informal assessment conducted in Beon Jail in 2007 indicated that at least 40 local inmates had a significant level of visual impairment. This was most commonly associated with atrophy of the...

Food insecurity is defined as: "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited ability to acquire acceptable foods in a socially acceptable way" (Anderson, 1990). Food insecurity is associated with poorer nutritional outcomes and in the 2002 New Zealand Children's Nutrition Survey half of households studied reported food insecurity (Parnell, 2005).

This article looks at indigenous inequality in regards to health and development. Inequalitybetween and within populations has origins in adverse early experiences. Developmental neuroscienceshows how early biological and psychosocial experiences affect brain development. We previously identified inadequate cognitive stimulation, stunting, iodine deficiency, and iron-deficiency anaemia as key risks that prevent millions of young children from...

An unhealthy diet can be the cause of mental health problems in adolescents, a new study has found. Three quarters of lifetime psychiatric disorders will emerge in adolescence or early adulthood. The National Comorbidity Survey Replication recently reported that more than 22% of adolescents aged 13 to 18 yrs had already experienced a clinically significant...

With preventive health now a major focus of health reform in Australia, this report provides information about the prevalence of those chronic diseases for which behavioural changes, or increased screening practices, can reduce onset, assist in management, or prevent death. The report contains current prevalence rates, and where possible, shows trends in chronic conditions over...