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Over 100 researchers and health professionals from around Australia have united in Broome this week to address the major health battles facing people living in the tropical north of the country.

When health organisations in the north-west of WA requested urgent action to address the region’s high rate of skin infections, Dr Asha Bowen answered the call.

Leading paediatrician, infectious diseases specialist and Executive Director of The Kids Research Institute Australia, Professor Jonathan Carapetis, has been recognised for his significant contribution towards medical research with the award of Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

The World Health Organisation resolution for global action to tackle rheumatic heart disease (RHD) will have significant implications for Australia, which has some of the highest rates of the disease in the world.

When Katrina took her daughter Tenaya to the local emergency department for the fourth time, she was determined she wouldn’t be leaving without answers.

It's been a huge year for those working to eliminate rheumatic heart disease (RHD), with breakthroughs including $35M in funding to develop a Strep A vaccine.

Indigenous children in colonised nations experience high rates of health disparities linked to historical trauma resulting from displacement and dispossession, as well as ongoing systemic racism. Skin infections and their complications are one such health inequity, with the highest global burden described in remote-living Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (hereafter respectfully referred to as Aboriginal) children. Yet despite increasing urbanisation, little is known about the skin infection burden for urban-living Aboriginal children.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most common form of acquired heart disease worldwide. In RHD, volume loading from mitral regurgitation leads to left ventricular (LV) dilatation, increased wall stress, and ultimately LV dysfunction. Improved understanding of LV dynamics may contribute to refined timing of intervention.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) due to MDR organisms are increasingly common. The lack of paediatric data on efficacious antibiotics makes UTI treatment particularly challenging. Data on the efficacy of fosfomycin use for UTI in children are variable.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes pharyngitis (sore throat) and impetigo (skin sores) GAS pharyngitis triggers rheumatic fever (RF) with epidemiological evidence supporting that GAS impetigo may also trigger RF in Australian Aboriginal children. Understanding the concurrent burden of these superficial GAS infections is critical to RF prevention. This pilot study aimed to trial tools for concurrent surveillance of sore throats and skins sore for contemporary studies of RF pathogenesis including development of a sore throat checklist for Aboriginal families and pharynx photography.