An inaugural conference will examine acute challenges facing rural health system.
The 2023 Shoalhaven Rural Health Research Conference aims to unpack many of these issues, and more, while focusing on how to improve rural health services through collaboration, research and innovation.
The inaugural, nation-wide conference will be held at the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Shoalhaven Campus on Saturday (March 18) with a theme of Connection and Capacity Building.
The challenges facing the rural health system are well-documented and well-known: difficulty attracting and retaining staff, fewer resources, lack of access to services, and building capacity and resilience in times of disaster and emergency.
Associate Professor Marlene Longbottom, a proud Yuin woman from Jerrinja community in the Shoalhaven, will deliver the keynote address, titled ‘Capacity and Connection in Rural Health’.
The keynote address will be followed by a series of workshops on the rural health and research landscape, hosted by UOW academics and primary healthcare professional across the fields of dietetics and nutrition, nursing, medicine and Indigenous health.
UOW Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Patricia M. Davidson, a global leader in nursing, health care and advocacy, will also speak at the conference.
She said “The challenges facing rural health were complex and demanded multi-disciplinary solutions driven by research.”
Image: Dpt of Health
