Australia’s first Health and Productivity Research Centre

Australia’s first Health and Productivity Research Centre will be officially opened at the University of Wollongong tomorrow (Tuesday 4 May) with its main aim to measure and report the impact of health issues on productivity in Australia.

The centre’s partners are the University of Wollongong and the University of Michigan Health Management Research Centre and the Australian Health Management Group (AHMG). In conjunction with the launch of the centre, Professor Dee W.Edington, Director of the University of Michigan Health Management Research Centre, is visiting Australia to highlight the risk posed by the impact of poor health on workplace productivity.

The Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Professor Don Iverson, said the new centre would take Australia to the cutting-edge of research into key issues affecting the health and well-being of every working Australian.

The centre is now undertaking two projects:

• Efficient strategies to increase participation rates in disease management programs (partly funded by a grant obtained through the Australian Research Council)
• Use of complementary and alternative medicines among older Australians

Another planned project for the research centre is to attempt for the first time to measure the impact of ‘presenteeism’ on Australia’s workers and economy. As opposed to the ‘sickie’, presenteeism is where employees turn up to work despite lacking the motivation or health to be productive. In the US, the cost of presenteeism is believed to equal the sum of absenteeism, injuries and health care costs.

When: 11am, Tuesday 4 May
Where: UniCentre Function Room 2 (Bldg 11), University of Wollongong.

Among those attending the launch will be the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Professor Gerard Sutton; the chairperson of the AHMG Board, Mr Michael McMahon; the Chair of the centre’s management committee and Chief Executive Officer of the AHMG, Mr Dan Hook; and the Director of the University of Michigan Health Management Research Center, Professor Dee W.Edington. A plaque will be unveiled to mark the opening of the centre.

Further information: Contact the Director of Research for the Health and Productivity Research Centre, Associate Professor Sandra Jones on (02) 4221 4209 or Scott Avery on 0409 356 402.