News & opinion

New South Wales has made significant inroads into improving the healthiness of foods available in schools and hospitals but other states lag behind, according to a new report on Australia’s efforts to address rising rates of obesity.

Overweight and obesity in children have developed into a major public health issue in recent decades.

Do doctors charge what they think their service is worth? Or do they sometimes take an opportunity to charge what they think they can get? It’s a critical question for Australia’s health policy makers, given that doctors’ fees are not capped in this country, and yet a portion is...

Media release: 19 March 2019. Mothers who breastfed are 34 percent less likely to die of heart disease Mothers who breastfeed their babies have a lower risk of developing or dying from heart disease than those who don’t breastfeed, finds new research from the University of Sydney.

Media Release: 15 March 2019 The vast majority of older patients on multiple medications are not having their medicines properly reviewed – increasing the risk of dangerous drug reactions and overdoses – according to new research using data from the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study. The new study...

Media release: 6 March 2019. Nutrition experts are calling for an overhaul of Australia’s Health Star Rating system – a voluntary front-of-pack labelling scheme that rates the nutritional value of packaged food – claiming it is actually doing the opposite of what was intended and is promoting food high...

Media release: 6 March 2019. What is the best way to keep young kids physically active at home? In good news for parents with limited outside space, new Australian research shows that it’s not necessarily the size of your backyard that matters. Rather, it’s fixed equipment – things like...

15 February 2019. A landmark study led by the Sax Institute has revealed a new way forward in helping health policy agencies build their capacity to use research evidence. The SPIRIT (Supporting Policy In health with Research: an Intervention Trial) study, led by Dr Anna Williamson, Senior Research Fellow...

15 February 2019. An international research collaboration which includes the Sax Institute’s Decision Analytics team has been awarded a substantial grant from the National Suicide Prevention Research Fund (managed by Suicide Prevention Australia) to look at the relationship between social media and suicide clusters. Relatively little work has been...

14 February 2019. Some of Australia’s leading experts on heart health met at a roundtable in Sydney in December 2018 to discuss worrying findings that women with heart disease may get poorer treatment and have worse outcomes, compared with men. Jointly organised by the Sax Institute, the Heart Foundation...