Health Report - Separate stories podcast

VicHealth is the world's first health promotion foundation, with the goal of preventing people from becoming unwell. The Victorian Government plans to absorb the foundation into the government, threatening its independence. Also, an agency in the United States changes its recommendations around hepatitis B vaccination in babies. 

Up to 30 per cent of Australian adults could be living with metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).Most of those people won’t be aware they have the condition, and for those that are aware, the diagnosis can come as a shock.So what can be done to treat fatty liver disease? And can it be reversed entirely?Guest/sProfessor James O’Beirne, consultant hepatologist at Sunshine Coast University Hospital in Queensland ReferencesEating For Your Liver - Liver Foundation

While Australia is still determined to eliminate cervical cancer by 2035, there are early warning signs emerging.Rates of vaccination against HPV, the commonest cause of nearly all cervical cancers, have fallen. And they’re still lagging in boys.Experts suggest school vaccination programs are struggling because of rising absenteeism.They want more young people to know that they can receive a free HPV vaccine up to age 25.Guest/sProfessor Julia Brotherton, cancer prevention policy and implementation at the University of Melbourne References2025 Cervical Cancer Elimination Progress Report

A study has found Indigenous babies in remote Australia are born with more diverse gut bacteria. While this is a key marker of health, it's still unclear why these babies will grow up to have an increased risk of chronic disease. It highlights how Westernisation could be having a detrimental impact on the health on First Nations people. Guest/sProfessor Leonard Harrison, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the University of MelbourneReferencesIndigenous infants in remote Australia retain an ancestral gut microbiome despite encroaching Westernization

A look at some of the Health Report correspondence this week.You can email us at [email protected]