Thomas Gadsden

• MIPH
• PhD Student at The George Institute for Global Health

Background The Pacific Island country of Vanuatu is at the early stages of demographic ageing. The government is yet to develop a strategic approach to optimize the health and wellbeing of older indigenous Vanuatu residents (ni-Vanuatu). Methods Using policy mapping and semi-structured interviews with 42 ni-Vanuatu, this research aimed to explore...

Introduction Rare kidney diseases (RKDs) place a substantial economic burden on patients and health systems, the extent of which is unknown and may be systematically underestimated by health economic techniques. We aimed to investigate the economic burden and cost-effectiveness evidence base for RKDs. Methods We conducted a systematic scoping revi...

Sex and gender are inadequately considered in health and medical research, policy and practice, leading to preventable disparities in health and wellbeing. Several global institutions, journals, and funding bodies have developed policies and guidelines to improve the inclusion of diverse participants and consideration of sex and gender in research...

Background There is increasing evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted adversely on the provision of essential health services globally. The Southeast Asia region (SEAR) has experienced extremely high rates of COVID-19 infection, with potential adverse impacts on provision of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health (RMNCH) servi...

Background:Sex and gender are inadequately considered in health and medical research, policy and practice, leading to preventable disparities in health and wellbeing. Several global institutions, journals, and funding bodies have developed policies and guidelines to improve the inclusion of diverse participants and consideration of sex and gender i...

In May 2022, the 75th World Health Assembly recognised the need to accelerate national responses to the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) to achieve the goals of the Global Action Plan (GAP) for the Prevention and Control of NCDs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 imposed unprecedented financing requirements on countries to rapidly implement effective prevention and control measures while dealing with severe economic contraction. The challenges were particularly acute for the 11 countries in the WHO South East Asia Region (SEAR), home to the lowest average level of public expenditure on health of al...

Background Community health workers (CHWs) play a critical role in supporting health systems, and in improving accessibility to primary healthcare. In many settings CHW programmes do not have formalised employment models and face issues of high attrition and poor performance. This study aims to determine the employment preferences of CHWs in Malang...

Community health workers (CHWs) are the first point of contact with the primary health care system in many low- and middle-income countries and are situated to play a critical role in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The knowledge, attitude and practices of CHWs regarding COVID-19 may be influenced by their level of trust and pa...

Background There is increasing evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted adversely on the provision of essential health services. The South East Asia region (SEAR) has experienced extremely high rates of COVID-19 infection, and continues to bear a significant proportion of communicable disease burden worldwide. Methods We conducted a system...

Background COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the health systems of the 11 countries of the WHO South East Asia Region. We conducted a systematic review of studies that used quantitative and comparative approaches to assess the impact of the pandemic on the service provision of four noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) (cancer, cardiovascular disease...

Objective: To review the evidence on the impact on measurable outcomes of performance-based incentives for community health workers (CHWs) in low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of intervention studies published before November 2020 that evaluated the impact of financial and non-financial performance-based...

Background The World Health Organization recommends that community health workers (CHWs) receive a mix of financial and non-financial incentives, yet notes that there is limited evidence to support the use of one type of incentive (i.e. financial or non-financial) over another. In preparation for a larger scale trial, we investigated the acceptabil...

In this systematic review and meta‐analyses, we sought to determine sex‐disparities in treatment abandonment in children with cancer in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) and identify the characteristics of children and their families most disadvantaged by such abandonment. Sex‐disaggregated data on treatment abandonment were collated from th...

Objective New South Wales (NSW) experienced a severe influenza season in 2017. In 2018, NSW Health implemented a campaign to improve healthcare worker (HCW) influenza vaccination coverage. The South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (LHD) trialled a centralised online database to monitor HCW uptake of the vaccination. This paper outlines how the...

Following the introduction of mandatory influenza vaccination for staff working in high risk clinical areas in 2018, we conducted active surveillance for adverse events following immunisation utilising an automated online survey to vaccine recipients at three and 42 days post immunisation. Most participants 2,285 (92%) agreed to participate; 515 (3...

Introduction Interventions targeting the financing of primary health care (PHC) systems could accelerate progress towards universal health coverage; however, there is limited evidence to guide best-practice implementation of these interventions. This study aimed to generate a stakeholder-led research agenda in the area of PHC financing intervention...

Background Providing culturally safe health care can contribute to improved health among Aboriginal people. However, little is known about how to make hospitals culturally safe for Aboriginal people. This study assessed the impact of an emergency department (ED)-based continuous quality improvement program on: the accuracy of recording of Aborigina...

Background Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory (NT) have low rates of driver licensing, which is likely to contribute to high rates of transport-related injury, high rates of incarceration for regulatory driving offences and reduced access to employment, education and essential health services. The DriveSafe NT Remote program was implemente...

Introduction The low level of licenced drivers in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory (NT) Australia constitutes a risk factor for transport injury, high incarceration rates, and reduced ability to access employment and health services. The DriveSafe NT Remote program was implemented by the NT Government to increase driver licen...

From the early days of the HIV epidemic, Indigenous peoples were identified as a population group that experiences social and economic determinants-including colonialism and racism-that increase exposure to HIV. There are now substantial disparities in HIV rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in some countries. We conducted a compreh...