The 14th National Rural Health Conference is for everyone who has an interest in improving the health and wellbeing of the people of rural, regional and remote Australia. That includes the 7 million who live in those areas, as well as the many who work with and for them but are based in the major cities.
Whatever your interest in healthy, sustainable and resilient rural communities, the NRHA would like to invite you to the Cairns Convention Centre from 26 to 29 April 2017.
Whether you are a consumer, a health professional, a researcher or a manager, you will be able to engage at the Conference with subjects and people of interest to you.
It’s a health conference, but one that recognises the broad determinants of health and the critical role played in rural and remote health and wellbeing by education, rural industries, transport and housing, and a wide range of other sectors and professions.
The Conference will have plenty for health clinicians of all disciplines. And it always provides a special welcome to health consumers-the citizens of the Bush-who know best what needs to be done and how to go about it.
The characteristics of smaller and more remote communities pose particular challenges for the delivery of publicly-funded services such as health and education. And the economic markets on which the private sector depends are 'thin', with small numbers of producers and consumers, so that market mechanisms often fail to deliver.
Come and share your views with people from other places in Australia and around the world about how the health and wellbeing of people in rural and remote areas is being improved. Hear up-to-date reports on rural health research and service models that are working well in Australia and overseas, from both experienced and up-and-coming researchers and policy makers. Hear the latest views on meeting health workforce challenges. Talk with people about Primary Health Networks (PHNs), Local Hospital Networks and health promotion in more remote areas. And share the experiences you have about rural education, patients' transport and accommodation, care for people living with a disability and care for the elderly.
Ask yourself what contribution you can make to meeting the challenge of equal health for the people of
rural Australia by 2020-and meet with others in Cairns to discuss a positive future.
