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Melissa Sweet

@melissasweetdr.bsky.social
5.5K followers 1.8K following 7.1K posts

Journalist sharing news on health in all policies, First Nations health, health equity, social determinants of health and climate justice. Based in Australia, and providing local, national and global coverage. Editor in Chief, Croakey Health Media (NFP)

PostsRepliesMedia
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 14h
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Eight-bed outback hospital costs $67m, three times original budget
WA's Health Minister Meredith Hammat has defended the cost of a new eight-bed outback hospital, which has reached practical completion at a cost of more than $8 million per bed.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 14h
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Can you really rely on your phone to save you in a bushfire?
The Black Summer bushfires cut people off from warnings, rescue and each other when mobile phones failed. How can we stay safe when telecommunications go dark?
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 14h
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Pennsylvania health officials brace themselves as measles outbreak expected to spread
Most counties don’t have their own health agencies, and some specific population groups have low vaccination rates
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Landmark #HEAL2026 conference to put focus on solutions to environmental health hazards - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/landmark-con... By @mariemcinerney.bsky.social
croakey.org
Landmark conference to put focus on solutions to environmental health hazards
The lived experience of people who have been at the forefront of environmental exposures and climate extremes will feature at
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Timely launch for new tool to hold fossil fuel companies and governments to account - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/timely-launc...
croakey.org
Timely launch for new tool to hold fossil fuel companies and governments to account
Introduction by Croakey: The planned expansion of the largest coal mine in NSW will result in an estimated 462,000 more
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Lessons from Sudan – prevention of cholera must be prioritised - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/lessons-from... By Dr Micaela Serafini, President of Médecins Sans Frontières in Switzerland
croakey.org
Lessons from Sudan – prevention of cholera must be prioritised
Introduction by Croakey: Cholera deaths around the world increased by 30 percent in 2025, despite fewer cases being reported, according
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
World News Day – democracy needs journalism in every language - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/world-news-d... By Anna Mae Lamentillo, founder of Paraluman News, a youth-driven journalism project in The Philippines
croakey.org
World News Day – democracy needs journalism in every language
Introduction by Croakey: This week Croakey Health Media joined more than 800 other news organisations in supporting World News Day
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Growing health together – when medical students swap lecture theatres for community gardens - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/growing-heal... By Associate Professor Keith McNaught, at Curtin Medical School’s Kalgoorlie campus in Western Australia.
croakey.org
Growing health together – when medical students swap lecture theatres for community gardens
Introduction by Croakey: You can teach medical students about the social determinants of health in a lecture theatre – or
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
apnews.com/article/viet... Ho Chi Minh City is learning to live with floods but climate change has raised the stakes
apnews.com
Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City is learning to live with floods but climate change has raised the stakes
Ho Chi Minh City has learned to live with flooding as high tides from the Saigon River and smaller waterways regularly inundate roads and businesses.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The week ahead in global health, ex @who.int hq_who_departmentofcommunications.cmail20.com/t/d-e-wjdkkh...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Ask Anika: Is my chatbot poisoned by disinformation?! 🦋 www.cjr.org/ask-anika/is...
cjr.org
Ask Anika: Is my chatbot poisoned by disinformation?
How to keep AI from killing us with fake news.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"In contrast to major global public health institutions and bodies, at UNPFII no Indigenous intervention discussed health without also including nature, people in nature, or the state of the natural world."
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Indigenous Peoples’ Health: Reflections from the 25th annual meeting of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - The Lancet Planetary Health www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Indigenous Peoples’ Health: Reflections from the 25th annual meeting of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is a unique space that works differently than other UN bodies. As a knowledge and communication hub of Indigenous Peoples from 7 sociocultural regi...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
New report shows that Mother Earth is calling us back to relationship - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/new-report-s... By Crystal Arnold, a Gundungurra woman, lecturer, and researcher in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong
croakey.org
New report shows that Mother Earth is calling us back to relationship
Introduction by Croakey: As we reported recently, the planet’s latest annual health check found that seven of nine planetary boundaries
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Moving beyond allyship to accompliceship – a timely call to action - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/moving-beyon... By Dr Elixabeth Rix, Dr Shae L Brown and Dr Darlene Rotumah
croakey.org
Moving beyond allyship to accompliceship – a timely call to action
How can non-Indigenous people working in the health sector be more active and effective in supporting First Nations Peoples' governance
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Moving beyond allyship to accompliceship – a timely call to action - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/moving-beyon... By Dr Elizabeth Rix, Dr Shae L Brown and Dr Darlene Rotumah
croakey.org
Moving beyond allyship to accompliceship – a timely call to action
How can non-Indigenous people working in the health sector be more active and effective in supporting First Nations Peoples' governance
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Preventing domestic and family violence, what will it take? - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/preventing-d...
croakey.org
Preventing domestic and family violence, what will it take?
According to Australian Femicide Watch, 54 Australian women and 21 children have lost their lives to violence so far this
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Envisaging a new dawn for housing design in Lutruwita/Tasmania - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/envisaging-a... By Dr Lisa Stafford, Dr James Newton, Joel Dignam and Vaughn Bennison
croakey.org
Envisaging a new dawn for housing design in Lutruwita/Tasmania
New homes in Lutruwita/Tasmania must implement all provisions of the new Livable Housing Design Standard from tomorrow (1 October), with
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Our wedding was a political statement — and that was the whole point
Freddy Grant and Burton Reynolds were married in 2016 using a legal loophole for same-sex marriage. Now celebrating their 10th anniversary, Freddy reflects on their love and the political statement th...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Hospital apologises over unapproved gloves for handling chemotherapy drugs
Clinicians at Victoria's leading paediatric hospital have been using gloves that were not tested or approved for administering chemotherapy, despite the issue being raised a decade ago.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
South-east faces flooding, storms after second-driest September on record
After a warm and dry start to spring, heavy rain is expected to sweep across south-east Australia this weekend.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Matt Kean warns climate crisis ‘isn’t someone else’s problem’ as largest coal project in NSW history greenlit
Exclusive: Climate Change Authority chair says planning commission did not account for climate-related economic damage in NSW
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
New Google Maps images reveal massive scale of devastation in Gaza
Satellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Doctors and allied health professionals to walk off job en masse amid pay disputes
Doctors at Victoria's public hospitals will walk off the job for four hours leaving staffing at weekend levels, as a 14-month bargaining process over pay and conditions continues to grind on.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“The approval of the HVO mine continuing is not just another climate failure among many. It is the failure that finally broke my faith in the capacity of public institutions to serve the public interest.”
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The green light for the largest coalmine in NSW history is shocking proof that our governance systems are betraying Australians | Georgina Woods
There is no greater treachery than this failure to face up to the climate crisis. How can we now fend off despair?
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Reposted by Melissa Sweet
Daniel Seaton | Phoenix Reforge @phoenixreforge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Housing design is public-health infrastructure, not just amenity. Which design decisions would make the biggest measurable difference to safety, accessibility and daily cognitive load?
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Environmental watchdog failed to adequately track or manage thousands of cases of contamination across Western Australia, often taking years to investigate a site or leaving the responsibility of assessment to staff members that no longer worked there. www.watoday.com.au/national/wes...
watoday.com.au
WA pollution watchdog assigned hundreds of cases to ex-employees
The WA Auditor General has released a scathing report into the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation’s assessment of contaminated sites.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
UK banks are Europe’s biggest financial backers of the global coal industry, providing billions of pounds in funding for the climate-wrecking fossil fuel in the past four years, according to a report. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
UK banks are Europe’s biggest coal financiers, report finds
Study says UK-based banks provided $8.3bn in coal financing in four years, with Barclays and HSBC leading rise
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Philip Morris International has been framing bans on its products as trade issues, not public health measures. Did it also try to undermine Vietnam's ban on heated tobacco products? exposetobacco.org/resource/vie...
exposetobacco.org
Who Is Behind Recent Trade Complaints Against Vietnam’s HTP Ban?
PMI has been framing bans on its products as trade issues, not public health measures. Did it also try to undermine Vietnam's HTP ban?
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
How tobacco industry & allies are targeting health professionals, especially dental: - Funding conferences, research - Offering sponsorship or resources to professional associations - Supplying clinical, educational materials exposetobacco.org/news/tobacco...
exposetobacco.org
Dentists and Other Medical Professionals Are Still Being Targeted by the Tobacco Industry
Big Tobacco is calling its newer products "an opportunity for oral health," and is working to make dentists its allies.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Inside the fossil fuel industry's push into Australian classrooms
At least 260 educational programs in Australia are sponsored by fossil fuel companies, according to a report by a climate advocacy group.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Mother felt 'completely abandoned' during traumatic birth at NSW hospital
A mother who experienced a traumatic birth at the Queanbeyan Hospital says her daughter could have died due to care failures during her labour.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Nepal's dire warning to the rest of the world
Just days after a plea for global climate action, Nepal faces yet another disaster.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Big pharma move to dispense GLP-1s to your door condemned by doctors
Doctors and pharmacists have criticised Eli Lilly's new online platform LillyDirect that will dispense certain medicines, starting with Mounjaro, directly to a patient's door.
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
More than 1,000 large companies paid no tax in Australia, ATO reveals
Almost 30 per cent of large companies paid no tax in 2024–25, an Australian Taxation Office report reveals, resulting in the corporate tax amount payable dropping by $8.2 billion from the previous yea...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump administration diverts human rights funds to push far-right agenda abroad
Support for white Afrikaners, anti-communism and others reveals how US redefining what qualifies as human rights
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Nurse charged with helping man in hospital escape from ICE custody
FBI accuses Chloe Freeman of federal misdemeanor in case of undocumented Mexican migrant arrested in Michigan
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The Zap: latest health and aged care news, plus key consultations now open - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/the-zap-late...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Health services are facing a killer El Niño without enough support - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/health-servi...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Governments and health sector urged to lift their game on climate health communications - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/governments-...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Calling for national action to protect our health from poor air quality - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/calling-for-...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The world faces four great tests arising from failures in the governance of power - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/the-world-fa...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Treasury must have missed the memo on the climate health crisis - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/treasury-mus...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
New book highlights the power of witness testimonies from Australian and New Zealand healthcare workers in Gaza - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/new-book-hig...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
World Health Organization urged to declare climate change a Public Health Emergency of International Concern - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/world-health...
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Reposted by Melissa Sweet
Rob Phair @robphair.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
@acrrm.bsky.social
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Preventing dementia is a shared national responsibility – about so much more than the choices individuals make - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/preventing-d...
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Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#TheZAP: Diagnosis and care for people with dementia needs to be improved. And there are calls for aged care system to prioritise prevention & ensure admission to residential care is “not because earlier opportunities for support were missed”. www.croakey.org/the-zap-late... #AusPol
croakey.org
The Zap: latest health and aged care news, plus key consultations now open
Diagnosis and care for people with dementia needs to be improved, according to new findings that also show carers often
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Reposted by Melissa Sweet
Adam Morton @adammorton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Antarctic winter sea ice falls to third-lowest level on record as scientists warn of ‘now problem’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Antarctic winter sea ice falls to third-lowest level on record as scientists warn of ‘now problem’
Coverage levels fall a million square kilometres short of the long-term average, with global heating likely driving losses
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