A research partnership between La Trobe University and Wuhan University is seeking to address shared challenges in the Australian and Chinese health systems.
As part of the partnership, Professor George Liu from La Trobe’s School of Psychology and Public Health is working with Dr Qiang Yao at Wuhan University on a series of collaborative health research projects.
“Our research looks at how we can strengthen the health system through a lens of health equity. As part of this, we are examining the roles of various stakeholders in achieving the goal of universal health coverage and, in particular, how people respond to the challenges arising from an increasingly complex modern society,” Professor Liu explains.
“Australia and China share certain priorities when it comes to health reform, such as universal coverage of medical care services, coordination between primary and hospital care, cost containment, and safety and quality of care.”
“Through this collaboration with Wuhan University, we can get a new perspective on familiar policy questions. It also gives us access to academic resources in China that can help us answer research questions of global significance.”
As part of the partnership, Professor Liu and Dr Yao recently published a joint paper on BMI Global Health reviewing research into the role of social media in public health crises.
“The COVID-19 global pandemic highlighted the growing role of social media in the way we consume outbreak-related information.”
“We looked at existing research into the role of social media in public health crises caused by infectious diseases. Our review uncovered three broad themes, including surveillance monitoring, risk communication and disease control.”
Professor Liu says he hopes the review will support future decision-making around social media and public heath communication.
“We hope this research will help public health professionals to develop evidence-based strategies for communicating health information via social media.”
