16th National Rural Health Conference

16th National Rural Health Conference is organized by The National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) and will be held from Aug 02 - 04, 2022 at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Cnr Merivale St, Glenelg St, South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Description:
Every two years, many people, both current and future, in the remote and rural healthcare sector of Australia gather at the National Rural Health Conference. Their goal is to exchange information on the most recent advancements in rural and remote health and to connect with friends from the past and new.

For those in the remote and rural health care sector, The Conference is designed to educate and inspire
• demonstrate what is happening on the ground
• aid in the development of interprofessional health teamwork, which includes the collaboration between Australia and other nations;
• connect health consumers to others from the sector;
• offer the opportunity for researchers to present their research findings published by experienced and young researchers.
• identify trends and problems and help establish the agenda for the sector;
• increase awareness of remote and rural health issues within the community as well as among decision-makers.

The Conference will be a welcoming event to all those involved in health and wellbeing including education, transport, economic development, housing as well as the environment, and community services. It is expected that the Conference and its organizers will never forget that in essence, the "rural health community' comprises a lot of people who reside and work in the big cities and are involved in some manner or another with the health of the people living in rural regions.

As usual, it is expected that the National Rural Health Conference will be highly multi-sectoral and inter-disciplinary. It will bring together health professionals from every discipline, as well as remote and rural health patients and researchers, students from academia, Aboriginal as well as Torres Strait Islander citizens, government officials as well as parliamentarians as well as the media.

It will place a heavy emphasis on the social elements that influence health and wellbeing as well as on methods of delivery for health that are effective in remote regions. Sessions will be planned around major issues, and not focused on particular specialties. For example, instead of separate streams of work for managers, nurses or medical professionals the Conference's agenda could relate to issues such as Aboriginal as well as Torres Strait Islander health and well-being alternative funding models including digital health, high-speed broadband as well as mental health, emotional and social well-being of people moving to new areas, remote health concerns (Island Health based) as well as women's and male's health.

Theme:
The focus of this year's 16th National Rural Health Conference is: Bridging social distance Rural health innovation and working together.

Rural Australia is made up of many amazing places to reside and work. It's home to a third of the population of Australia but provides a lot more by contributing two-thirds of Australia's export profits through agriculture, resource tourism, retail manufacturing, and services.

It's part of the territory rural areas offer fewer services than cities. This has a negative impact on the infrastructure and staff to provide health care services for the primary population hospitals and other specialist services. Rural health professionals have the distinction of having a long history of multidisciplinary, practical responses to the issues of distance, lack of scale, and the scarcity of resources. Health care providers and rural health professionals demonstrate their flexibility and resilience over and over repeatedly. However, as a nation, we must not acknowledge all of the seven million people living in rural Australia remain at risk of greater levels of injuries as well as chronic diseases and have shorter lifespans when compared to their urban counterparts.

We can't rely on science, technology or the government, or a single group of experts or clinicians to help improve the health system in rural areas. It's a responsibility that we all face and we must work together. We are proud of the rural communities of Australia. Rural voices are significant. Take part in their voices at the 16th National Rural Health Conference.