The Medical journal of Australia
-
To quantify the risk of transmission of measles associated with infectious people who travelled on aeroplane flights to or within Australia. ⋯ Despite secondary measles transmission occurring on 19% of international flights carrying infectious people, risk was not clearly related to seating proximity, and contact tracing was ineffective, especially given delays in diagnosis, notification and accessing flight manifests. We recommend that direct contact tracing to identify susceptible people exposed to people infected with measles on aeroplane flights should not be undertaken routinely, and other strategies should be considered.
-
Global health (GH) training is well established overseas (particularly in North America) and reflects an increasing focus on social accountability in medical education. Despite significant interest among trainees, GH is poorly integrated with specialty training programs in Australia. ⋯ Safe and effective placements rely on firm ethical foundations as well as strong and durable partnerships between Australian and overseas health services, educational institutions and GH agencies. More formal systems of GH training in Australia have the potential to produce fellows with the skills and knowledge necessary to engage in regional health challenges in a global context.