2013-05-01 Healthy and Sustainable Agricultural Communities: Scholarships open Mon May 6th – May 24th Apply now!

Rural professionals (health, policy and agriculture) are the vital link that enable farming communities to achieve better health and sustainability.

Health, safety and wellbeing have a major impact on the productivity and sustainability of rural and remote communities. To develop your expertise and understanding of the intersectoral relationships in farming communities, the National Centre for Farmer Health through Deakin School of Medicine is delivering an essential online education opportunity to address the social, environmental, health and policy issues faced by agricultural communities in Australia and abroad.

HMF702 Healthy and Sustainable Agricultural Communities is the second core unit to be offered by the partnership between the School of Medicine at Deakin University and the National Centre for Farmer Health.  This unit looks closely at how living in a rural and remote community impacts on the determinants of health.  HMF702 aims to provide each student with the knowledge and skills to positively influence sustainability, the high rates of illness, injury and poor health in their agricultural community.

HMF702 is a core unit in the Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Health and Medicine and commences July 15th and runs through to October 11th, 2013 with online lectures and activities taking 3-4 hours per week to complete.  The best news is that it’s all online!

Ms Amy Fay, a previous student and Program Development Manager – Natural Resource Management, Dairy Australia, said this about HMF702:
“I am an agricultural professional who works in sustainable agriculture, natural resource management research and policy. Crucial to my work is an understanding of all aspects of sustainability, including social and economic drivers. This unit gave me a solid overview of the health and welfare challenges the farming community faces and how these may impact on broader productivity”.

The learning materials we have developed are unique to higher education in Australia with topics including climate impacts on health, natural disaster recovery, rural lifestyle disease, food security, rural health workforce shortages, small-town and distance health promotion, remote health planning and policy, nutrition and exercise, alcohol consumption and roles of rural health and agricultural professionals.

If you work (or have aspirations to work) in agriculture, public health, health promotion, social work, policy, nursing and/or medicine in rural and remote areas then this unit will appeal to you.  The unit is offered at a postgraduate level and is an elective for postgraduate qualifications at Deakin University. It is a core unit of the Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Health and Medicine H522.

For further information on HMF702 click here.

We would value your participation in this cutting edge course and urge you to enrol within the next 2-4 weeks to secure a place for you or your staff. If you wish to complete the Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Health and Medicine you need to enrol in this course.

A limited number of scholarships are available. Applications close
Friday 24th May.

For further information on HMF702 or scholarships, please contact the National Centre for Farmer Health website at www.farmerhealth.org.au or call us on (03) 5551 8533.