Anthony Zwi

UNSW Sydney | UNSW · School of Social Sciences

This paper uses 'othering' theory to explore how forced migrants are received in developed countries and considers the implications of this for public health. It identifies a variety of mechanisms by which refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants are positioned as 'the other' and are defined and treated as separate, distant and disconnected...

The paper proposes a pathway to 'evidence-informed' policy and practice (EIPP) and examines theoretical and practical implications.

Introduction The infection fatality rate (IFR) of COVID-19 has been carefully measured and analysed in high-income countries, whereas there has been no systematic analysis of age-specific seroprevalence or IFR for developing countries. Methods We systematically reviewed the literature to identify all COVID-19 serology studies in developing countri...

Purpose Emerging evidence suggests that women settling in a country after forced migration are at greater risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). Screening for IPV has been widely implemented in mainstream health services and found to increase identification of IPV and provide opportunities for access to support. The Australian government funds a...

Screening and response for intimate partner violence (IPV) is recommended for women in priority populations and is implemented in health services across diverse jurisdictions. Most women experiencing IPV strongly support screening, however this is untested with refugee women in resettlement contexts. Around one third of refugee women in Australia e...

The COVID‐19 infection fatality rate (IFR) is the proportion of individuals infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 who subsequently die. As COVID‐19 disproportionately affects older individuals, age‐specific IFR estimates are imperative to facilitate comparisons of the impact of COVID‐19 between locations and prioritize distribution of scarce resources. However,...

Background Culture and its practice is a recognised, but not well understood factor, in Aboriginal health and wellbeing. Our study aimed to explore how health and wellbeing are phenomenologically connected to cultural practices, foods, medicines, languages, and Country, through the platform of ‘on-Country’ camps facilitated by Aboriginal cultural k...

Background Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ have sustained their cultural practices for over 60,000 years which fundamentally impacts their health and wellbeing. Recent literature emphasizes cultural connection as a contributor to good public health, yet the mechanisms through which cultural engagement promotes health and wellbeing re...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is highly prevalent globally, with increased risk for women in situations of conflict, post conflict and resettlement. The Safety and Health after Arrival (SAHAR) study tested IPV screening with women accessing settlement services in New South Wales, Australia, using the validated ACTS tool, along with brief response...

The Safety and Health after Arrival (SAHAR) study, funded by the Australian Research Council and SSI, introduced and evaluated a culturally tailored domestic violence (DV) screening and response strategy with women attending five Australian refugee settlement services.

Malaria is a parasitic protozoan infection transmitted by the bite of Anophelene mosquito. It has four species of parasites: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale. Malaria has been a threat to humankind for centuries and continues to carry Significant social and economic burden in endemic countries. This...

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every sphere of life and livelihoods around the world. Many migrant workers from the Global South, such as Bangladesh, working in the Gulf countries were reported to be impacted by COVID-19, but the direct voices and views of migrant workers themselves and their households are largely unknown. This research adopt...

Introduction The health and well-being of Aboriginal Australians is inextricably linked to culture and Country. Our study challenges deficit approaches to health inequities by seeking to examine how cultural connection, practice and resilience among Aboriginal peoples through participation in ‘cultural camps’ held on sites of cultural significance...

Background Snakebite was added to the WHO neglected tropical disease (NTD) list in 2017, followed by a World Health Assembly resolution in 2018, and an explicit global target being set to reduce the burden in 2019. We aimed to understand how and why snakebite became a global health priority. Methods We conducted a policy case study, using in-depth...

Family caregivers of people with severe mental illness (SMI) have been increasingly observed to experience social isolation and/or loneliness (SI/L) which are risk factors for ill health. This scoping review aimed to map existing evidence and identify knowledge gaps in studies on SI/L in this population using the Arksey and O'Malley's framework. Pa...

The COVID-19 infection fatality rate (IFR) is the proportion of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 who subsequently die. As COVID-19 disproportionately affects older individuals, age-specific IFR estimates are imperative to facilitate comparisons of the impact of COVID-19 between locations and prioritize distribution of scare resources. However,...

Snakebite is a public health problem in many countries, with India having the highest number of deaths. Not much is known about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on snakebite care. We conducted 20 in-depth interviews with those bitten by venomous snakes through the two waves of COVID-19 (March–May 2020; May–November 2021), their caregivers, healt...

A Case study on challenges in mobilising, retaining and supporting health workers in times of political instability

Understanding Loss and Damage ahead of COP27. We are pleased to share IFSD - Institute for Study and Development Worldwide's new Policy Insight paper on #lossanddamage titled "Loss and Damage from Climate Change: Building Knowledge and Capacity in the Most Vulnerable Countries" produced in collaboration with International Centre for Climate Chang...

Disaster impacts are gendered. Women are often disproportionately vulnerable to and affected by disasters. However, little research exists on how Indigenous women from the Global South experience disasters and how they respond and contribute to the post-disaster recovery. This paper examines the experience of Indigenous women in the disaster recove...

Continuous professional development is important for improving professional competencies, such as cognitive knowledge, technical skills, behaviors, and attitudes. Trainees who complete training programs can have a positive influence on their workplaces. However, it is challenging to establish a process that can facilitate individual learning and he...

There is increasing recognition that political violence and war present a significant negative impact on health services and health systems. They also present opportunities, however, for the development of new services and systems; the challenge of confronting adversity allows for innovation, creativity, and the emergence of new technologies and sy...

Nepal's urban regions are facing increasing levels of water insecurity under a changing climate. The country has a long history of water policy development while climate‐related policies are also emerging at different levels of the new federal republic. It is unclear whether public policy is on the right track to ensure urban water security in the...

This chapter provides an overview of the global health dimensions of forced migration and the associated public health challenges. The chapter identifies different categories of forced migrants and examines the main causes of displacement in a global context in which globalization is simultaneously a force for greater integration as well as a contr...

Introduction The infection fatality rate (IFR) of COVID-19 has been carefully measured and analyzed in high-income countries, whereas there has been no systematic analysis of age-specific seroprevalence or IFR for developing countries. Indeed, it has been suggested that the death rate in developing countries may be far lower than in high-income cou...

Background Women are disadvantaged by ageing: older women are more likely than older men to suffer from ill-health, have less access to health care and suffer discrimination within the health care system. Globally, there is a dearth of health research on gender and ageing with substantial knowledge gaps in low and middle-income country contexts. Pa...

Background With trends towards longer life expectancy, lifetime with disability has also been prolonged. It is increasingly recognized that not only the person with disability but also those around them are affected. The relationship between functional limitation (FL) of the older adults and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of their spouse is...

The prevalence of diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter ‘Aboriginal’) Australians is three times greater than non-Aboriginal Australians, contributing to a greater risk of blindness from treatable and preventable ocular conditions, most prominently cataract and diabetic retinopathy. In rural and remote Aboriginal communiti...

With the deepening of health insurance reform in China, the integration of social health insurance schemes was put on the agenda. This paper aims to illustrate the achievements and the gaps in integration by demonstrating the trends in benefits available from the three social health insurance schemes, as well as the influencing factors. Data were d...

Background Women are disadvantaged by ageing: older women are more likely than older men to suffer from ill-health, have less access to health care and suffer discrimination within the health care system. Globally, there is a dearth of health research on gender and ageing with substantial knowledge gaps in low and middle-income country contexts. Pa...

Background Living and environmental conditions in rural Bangladesh expose children to drowning. The Anchal programme protects children through crèche-based supervision in an enclosed space run by locally recruited carers. It is unclear under what conditions the programme best operates to maximise protection. We conducted a process evaluation of Anc...

Addressing global health is one of the largest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, however, this task is becoming even more formidable with the accelerated destruction of the planet. Building on the success of the previous edition, the book outlines how progress towards improving global health relies on understanding its core social, ec...

Aims To elucidate (i) the challenges and constraints in the development and implementation of the regulatory framework for nursing professionals in Cambodia and (ii) the specific strategies adopted to address the challenges experienced in Cambodia. Introduction The health workforce will be critical to achieving the health‐related and wider Sustain...

Objective: Routine inquiry has been introduced in many health settings to identify women who are experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). A range of validated tools exist; however, little attention has been given to how health professionals interpret women’s responses and whether they align with women’s own perceptions about whether they discl...

Evidence of sexual violence against men and boys in many conflict-affected settings is increasingly recognized. Yet relatively little is currently known about the varied forms, sites, and impacts of this violence. Further, scant research on sexual violence against men and boys in displacement contexts has been undertaken to date. To begin to addres...

Background Children living in coastal, rural India face a particularly high risk of drowning due to rurality, presence of open water, lack of accessible health systems and poor infrastructure. No drowning interventions are currently implemented in India. Interventions that build on existing policy targets or government programs are more likely to b...

Background Well trained nurses are expected to influence their workplaces after completing their training courses. In Cambodia, a high-skill training program has been given for nurses to make them more qualified since 2011. After completing the program, we conducted an immediate post-training study in 2014. In this long-term, post-training study, w...

Background Drowning is a leading cause of child death in Bangladesh. The present study investigated the emergence of drowning reduction as a priority within Bangladesh and the position it currently holds on the national policy agenda. Methods This case study documents the evolution of policy responses to drowning, reporting on data from semistruct...

Background: Post-sexual violence service utilization is often poor in humanitarian settings. Little is known about the service uptake barriers facing male survivors specifically. Methods: To gain insights into this knowledge gap, we undertook a qualitative exploratory study to better understand the barriers to service utilization among male surv...

During the ceasefire agreement in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2006, a number of countries provided overseas development aid under the aegis of human security – most notably, Japan and Norway. Evaluations of such projects are essential in identifying good practice and providing an evidence base for future funding. However, for the insights of such ev...

Background: Four million people living in the Indian Sundarbans region in the state of West Bengal face a particularly high risk of drowning due to rurality, presence of open water, lack of accessible health systems and poor infrastructure. Although the World Health Organization has identified several interventions that may prevent drowning in rur...

Background: Mozambique has high maternal mortality which is compounded by limited human resources for health, weak access to health services, and poor development indicators. In 2011, the Mozambique Ministry of Health (MoH) approved the distribution of misoprostol for the prevention of post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) at home births where oxytocin is...

Background: Four million people living in the Indian Sundarbans region in the state of West Bengal face a particularly high risk of drowning due to rurality, presence of open water, lack of accessible health systems and poor infrastructure. Although the World Health Organization has identified a number of interventions that may prevent drowning in...

Background: Four million people living in the Indian Sundarbans region in the state of West Bengal face a particularly high risk of drowning due to rurality, presence of open water, lack of accessible health systems and poor infrastructure. Although the World Health Organization has identified several interventions that may prevent drowning in rura...

Background Four million people living in the Indian Sundarbans region in the state of West Bengal face a particularly high risk of drowning due to rurality, presence of open water, lack of accessible health systems and poor infrastructure. Although the World Health Organization has identified a number of interventions that may prevent drowning in r...

Introduction Our study aimed to identify factors that influence access to eye care and eye health outcomes for remote Indigenous Australians living with diabetes. Methods In collaboration with Indigenous Community-Based Researchers (CBR) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS), a qualitative, participatory action research appro...

Whether and how science can improve public policy is a highly contested topic in both the scholarly domains and the world of policy and practice. The research community often finds itself frustrated over the continued neglect of research evidence by policy makers. At the same time, policy makers see researchers as addressing their own questions of...

The number of migrants mov- which migrants may enter a country and access to personal, material, and social ing within and across borders for how long they may stay; where they can resources to counter them.6 7 of nation states for work, reset- work (and live); if they can be accompanied Position within the social hierarchy— tlement, and refuge is...

Background: In 2006, the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) in relation to nursing services in the region. This agreement was part of a set of policies to promote the free flow of skilled labor among ASEAN members and required mutually acceptable professional regulatory...

Over the last four decades, Bangladesh has made considerable improvements in population health, this is in part due to the use of evidence to inform policymaking. This systematic review aims to better understand critical factors that have facilitated the diffusion of scientific evidence into multiple phases of health policymaking in Bangladesh. To...

Living and geographical conditions in Bangladesh expose children to a high risk of drowning. Two programs operating in the Barishal Division of Bangladesh aim to reduce drowning risk through the provision of crèches (Anchal) and swim and rescue classes (SwimSafe). Anchal provides a safe environment with early childhood education to children aged 1–...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) routine screening is widely implemented, yet the evidence for pathways to impact remains unclear. Of the 32 abused women interviewed 16 weeks after antenatal IPV screening, 24 reported positive impact, six reported nil positive impact, and two reported negative impact. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), ke...

Aboriginal women globally are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) and face additional barriers to help-seeking. It is crucial that interventions for IPV are made safe for Indigenous women, given inflated rates of statutory intervention and widespread institutional racism. As part of a larger study of antenatal IPV screeni...

Young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Australia are recognised as under-utilising mainstream sexual and reproductive health care. A qualitative study was undertaken in Sydney, Australia, to explore the complexities and opportunities for engaging young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds with sexual and reproductive health inf...

Many low- and middle-income countries use national eye-care plans to guide efforts to strengthen eye-care services. The World Health Organization recognizes that evidence is essential to inform these plans. We assessed how evidence was incorporated in a sample of 28 national eye-care plans generated since the Universal eye health: a global action...

With more than 65 million people forcibly displaced in 2017, accountability has received increased attention in international humanitarian action. Efforts to enhance humanitarian accountability have historically focused on formal, technocratic processes. Scholars in other disciplines have explored non-formal forms of accountability including social...

Background: With 244 million international migrants, and significantly more people moving within their country of birth, there is an urgent need to engage with migration at all levels in order to support progress towards global health and development targets. In response to this, the 2nd Global Consultation on Migration and Health- held in Colombo...

Background and objectives: Young people are an important group to target with health promotion and preventive healthcare. This paper focuses on the engagement of migrant and refugee young people with sexual and reproductive healthcare in general practice. Method: Semi-structured first interviews (n = 27; 16 female, 11 male) and follow-up intervi...

In a multicultural nation such as Australia, it is important for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to have access to quality relationships and sexuality education, as they are known to be less well engaged with mainstream services. A study was undertaken to explore the complexities and opportunities for engaging this group with sexu...

Visual research methods like photography and digital storytelling are increasingly used in health and social sciences research as participatory approaches that benefit participants, researchers, and audiences. Visual methods involve a number of additional ethical considerations such as using identifiable content and ownership of creative outputs. A...

Background Under-five children born in a fragile and war-affected setting of South Sudan are faced with a high risk of death as reflecting in high under-five mortality. In South Sudan health inequities and inequitable condition of daily living play a significant role in childhood mortality. This study examines factors associated with under-five mor...

Objective Digital storytelling and other methods of self-expression and autobiography have become an increasingly important tool for those working with young people, including those from migrant, refugee or other ‘culturally diverse’ backgrounds. A structured scoping review was undertaken to better understand the potential value and challenges of u...

Background: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and the prevalence is inequitably distributed between and within countries. Interventions have been undertaken to improve cataract surgical services, however, the effectiveness of these interventions on promoting equity is not known. Objectives: T...

The “Burden of disease and injury in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples” was commissioned by the Australian government as part of the Australian Burden of Disease study. This paper explores the extent to which key actors in the research and policy communities expected the Indigenous Burden of Disease study's findings to inform, influence...

Introduction Migrant and refugee young people are often underserved by mainstream sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) in Australia and other high-income countries. Research is being undertaken to explore this, with particular emphasis on understanding the views and experiences of these young people regarding services for this aspect of health....

Objective: Inequalities in cataract blindness are well known, but data are rarely disaggregated to explore the combined effects of a range of axes describing social disadvantage. We examined inequalities in cataract blindness and services at the intersection of three social axes. Methods: Three dichotomous social variables (sex (male/female); pl...

Preventable diseases are the leading cause of illness and mortality for Indigenous Australians, especially those living in remote areas (Vos et al, 2009). The alarming prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous adults (39% >55 years) (ABS, 2013) has raised the risk of diabetic visual impairment. While the availability and continued funding of remote h...

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A systematic review was conducted in December 2013 to examine the extent to which health research has been focused on the eye health issues of fishing communities. We searched multiple databases to identify relevant citations, using a combination of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and text words representing eye health, fishing populations and meas...

Young people from minority ethnic, migrant and refugee backgrounds are widely recognised as being under-served by mainstream sexual and reproductive healthcare in developed economy nations. This paper documents the views of professionals in Australia on the complexities of, and best practice approaches to, engaging members of this group with sexual...

Indigenous Australians experience some of the worst health outcomes globally, with life expectancy being significantly poorer than those of non-Indigenous Australians. This is largely attributed to preventable diseases such as diabetes (prevalence 39% in Indigenous Australian adults > 55 years), which is attributed to a raised risk of diabetic visu...