Alexandra Martiniuk
Biographic Data
| ID | 7655104 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexandra Martiniuk |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexandra |
| FAMILY NAME | Martiniuk |
| SIGNATURE | MARTINIUK A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1368-8206 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 26 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Recommendations from health research for children and adolescents living in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations Leading the Way in Child Health Research
Historically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research in Australia has adhered to Western research paradigms and contributed to the adverse impacts of colonisation. However, recent developments driven by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and scholars, and development of ethical guidelines for research, have promoted a more inclusive and collaborative research landscape. In this study, published papers and internal documents aris…
School Connectedness Boosts Mental Health in Indigenous Adolescents With Adverse Childhood Experiences
BACKGROUND: The study examined whether school connectedness mediates the association between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and mental health conditions among Indigenous adolescents, and if this mediation varies by school type-Public versus Private/Catholic METHODS: Using data from 13 waves of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) in Australia (2008-2020), the present study examined the potential mediating effects of school c…
Models of care for Indigenous children in rural and remote settings
Indigenous communities internationally have demonstrated remarkable strength despite significant challenges. Health disparities among Indigenous peoples persist due to historical injustices and ongoing racial discrimination, not inherent vulnerabilities. Disparities are rooted in a legacy of colonisation, systemic exclusion, and socio-economic inequities impacting access to healthcare, education, and employment. Preliminary searches show limited …
Role of internet use, mobile phone, media exposure and domestic migration on reproductive health service use in Bangladeshi married adolescents and young women
Numerous studies have identified factors that are associated with increased access to reproductive health services in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). However, limited studies examined the influence of access to internet or a mobile phone, media exposure and domestic migration on reproductive health services use in LMICs like Bangladesh. This study investigated the role of such factors on the use of contraceptives, antenatal care (ANC) and …
Persistence of the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2 in Australia
We modelled emergence and spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Australia between December 2021 and June 2022. This pandemic stage exhibited a diverse epidemiological profile with emergence of co-circulating sub-lineages of Omicron, further complicated by differences in social distancing behaviour which varied over time. Our study delineated distinct phases of the Omicron-associated pandemic stage, and retrospectively quantified the adop…
Health services for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote Australia
In Australia, there is a significant gap between health outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, which may relate to inequity in health service provision, particularly in remote areas. The aim was to conduct a scoping review to identify publications in the academic and grey literature and describe 1) Existing health services for Indigenous children in remote Australia and service use, 2) Workforce challenges in remote settings, 3) Char…
Guidelines for short-term medical missions
BACKGROUND: In the past decade, there has been increasing guideline development for short-term medical missions (STMMs) traveling from high-income to low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of supporting health care services. The ethics of STMMs is criticized in the literature and there is frequently a lack of host country collaboration. This typically results in guidelines which are developed through the lens of the sending (high-income…
Bullied Because of Their Teeth
Making life better for Indigenous peoples is a global priority. Although bullying and oral health have always been a topic of concern, there is limited information regarding the impact of this problem on the general population, with no evidence in this regard among the Australian Indigenous population. Thus, we aimed to quantify the relationship between bullying victimization and oral health problems by remoteness among 766 Australian Indigenous …
Protective Factors against Self-Harm and Suicidality among Australian Indigenous Adolescents
Background: Understanding and encouraging social and emotional well-being (SEWB) among Indigenous adolescents is vital in countering the impacts of colonisation and intergenerational trauma. As self-harm and suicidality are considered markers of poor SEWB among Indigenous communities, we aimed to identify the individual-level and community-level factors protecting Indigenous adolescents from self-harm and suicidality. Methods: Data came from Foot…
Identifying potential factors associated with PCR testing for Covid-19 among Australian young people
Age, remoteness and having a pre-existing medical illness were associated with PCR COVID-19 testing among Australian youth aged between 16 and 21 years in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. More research is warranted to identify factors associated with other COVID-19 testing methods and address the specific barriers that may limit COVID-19 testing in this age group
Access to care for childhood cancers in India
Although participants acknowledged that accessing childhood cancer care in India is limited by several barriers, perceptions of these barriers varied. Our findings illustrate that health care provider perceptions are shaped by their experiences, interests and standpoints, which are useful towards informing policy for childhood cancers within UHC
A health care labyrinth
This qualitative study highlights and explores some of the barriers to childhood cancer care in India. Our findings show that referral pathways are intrinsically linked to the treatment experience and there should be better recognition of the financial and emotional challenges faced by the family that occur prior to definitive diagnosis and treatment. This information would help inform various stakeholders and contribute to improved interventions…
Institutional analysis of health system governance
It is important that researchers who study health system governance have a set of collective understandings of the meanings of governance, which can then inform the methods used in research. We present an institutional framing and definition of health system governance; that is, governance refers to making, changing, monitoring and enforcing the rules that govern the demand and supply of health services. This pervasive, relational view of governa…
The government cannot do it all alone’
Since the mid-1980s, the national health policy in Nigeria has sought to inspire community engagement in primary health care by bringing communities into partnership with service providers through community health committees. Using a realist approach to understand how and under what circumstances the committees function, we explored 581 meeting minutes from 129 committees across four states in Nigeria (Lagos, Benue, Nasarawa and Kaduna). We found…
How decentralisation influences the retention of primary health care workers in rural Nigeria
BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, the shortage of health workers is worst at the primary health care (PHC) level, especially in rural communities. And the responsibility for PHC - usually the only form of formal health service available in rural communities - is shared among the three tiers of government (federal, state, and local governments). In addition, the responsibility for community engagement in PHC is delegated to community health committees. OBJE…
Transaction costs of access to health care
Health care costs incurred prior to the appropriate patient-provider transaction (i.e., transaction costs of access to health care) are potential barriers to accessing health care in low- and middle-income countries. This paper explores these transaction costs and their implications for health system governance through a cross-sectional survey of adult patients who received their first diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) at the three designa…
Towards people-centred health systems
Although there is evidence that non-government health system actors can individually or collectively develop practical strategies to address primary health care (PHC) challenges in the community, existing frameworks for analysing health system governance largely focus on the role of governments, and do not sufficiently account for the broad range of contribution to PHC governance. This is important because of the tendency for weak governments in …
Building health systems capacity in global health graduate programs
There has been increasing focus on the role of health systems in low and middle-income countries. Despite this, very little evidence exists on how best to build health systems program and research capacity in educational programs. The current experiences in building capacity in health systems in five of the most prominent global health programs at Australian universities are outlined. The strengths and weaknesses of various approaches and techniq…
Critical care resources in the Solomon Islands
BACKGROUND: There are minimal data available on critical care case-mix, care processes and outcomes in lower and middle income countries (LMICs). The objectives of this paper were to gather data in the Solomon Islands in order to gain a better understanding of common presentations of critical illness, available hospital resources, and what resources would be helpful in improving the care of these patients in the future. METHODS: This study used a…
The pattern of injury and poisoning in South East Iran
BACKGROUND: Injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and even more so in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Iran is a LMIC and lacks information regarding injury for program and policy purposes. This study aimed to describe the incidence and patterns of injury in one province in South Eastern Iran. METHODS: A hospital-based, retrospective case review using a routinely collected registry in all Emergency Departments in…
Evaluating a streamlined clinical tool and educational outreach intervention for health care workers in Malawi
BACKGROUND: Nearly 3 million people in resource-poor countries receive antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, yet millions more require treatment. Key barriers to treatment scale up are shortages of trained health care workers, and challenges integrating HIV/AIDS care with primary care. THE RESEARCH: PALM PLUS (Practical Approach to Lung Health and HIV/AIDS in Malawi) is an intervention designed to simplify and integrate existing Malawian…
Reflections on peace-through-health
Sector wide approaches for health in small island states
Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps) have increasingly been implemented in countries around the world as a mechanism for effective delivery of health sector funding from various sources. Despite the global focus on aid effectiveness, SWAps have been under-examined. In 2007, the Solomon Islands and development partners began discussing a health SWAp making the Solomon Islands one of the first fragile states globally to adopt a SWAp. This paper explores …
Socioeconomic status and risk of car crash injury, independent of place of residence and driving exposure
BACKGROUND: Previous studies that found increased crash risks for young drivers of low socioeconomic status (SES) have failed to adjust for factors such as driving exposure and rural residence. This aim of this study is to examine the independent effect of SES on crash risk, adjusting for such factors, and to examine the relationship between injury severity following a crash and SES. METHODS: Information on risk factors for crash collected from 2…
Towards people-centred health systems
Although there is evidence that non-government health system actors can individually or collectively develop practical strategies to address primary health care (PHC) challenges in the community, existing frameworks for analysing health system governance largely focus on the role of governments, and do not sufficiently account for the broad range of contribution to PHC governance. This is important because of the tendency for weak governments in …
Institutional analysis of health system governance
It is important that researchers who study health system governance have a set of collective understandings of the meanings of governance, which can then inform the methods used in research. We present an institutional framing and definition of health system governance; that is, governance refers to making, changing, monitoring and enforcing the rules that govern the demand and supply of health services. This pervasive, relational view of governa…
Socioeconomic status and risk of car crash injury, independent of place of residence and driving exposure
BACKGROUND: Previous studies that found increased crash risks for young drivers of low socioeconomic status (SES) have failed to adjust for factors such as driving exposure and rural residence. This aim of this study is to examine the independent effect of SES on crash risk, adjusting for such factors, and to examine the relationship between injury severity following a crash and SES. METHODS: Information on risk factors for crash collected from 2…
The government cannot do it all alone’
Since the mid-1980s, the national health policy in Nigeria has sought to inspire community engagement in primary health care by bringing communities into partnership with service providers through community health committees. Using a realist approach to understand how and under what circumstances the committees function, we explored 581 meeting minutes from 129 committees across four states in Nigeria (Lagos, Benue, Nasarawa and Kaduna). We found…
The fraction of ischaemic heart disease and stroke attributable to smoking in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asian regions
Up to 30% of some cardiovascular fatalities can be attributed to smoking. This is likely an underestimate of the current burden of smoking on CVD, given that the smoking epidemic has developed further since many of the studies were conducted
Socioeconomic status and risk of car crash injury, independent of place of residence and driving exposure
BACKGROUND: Previous studies that found increased crash risks for young drivers of low socioeconomic status (SES) have failed to adjust for factors such as driving exposure and rural residence. This aim of this study is to examine the independent effect of SES on crash risk, adjusting for such factors, and to examine the relationship between injury severity following a crash and SES. METHODS: Information on risk factors for crash collected from 2…
Evaluating a streamlined clinical tool and educational outreach intervention for health care workers in Malawi
BACKGROUND: Nearly 3 million people in resource-poor countries receive antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, yet millions more require treatment. Key barriers to treatment scale up are shortages of trained health care workers, and challenges integrating HIV/AIDS care with primary care. THE RESEARCH: PALM PLUS (Practical Approach to Lung Health and HIV/AIDS in Malawi) is an intervention designed to simplify and integrate existing Malawian…
Reflections on peace-through-health
Sector wide approaches for health in small island states
Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps) have increasingly been implemented in countries around the world as a mechanism for effective delivery of health sector funding from various sources. Despite the global focus on aid effectiveness, SWAps have been under-examined. In 2007, the Solomon Islands and development partners began discussing a health SWAp making the Solomon Islands one of the first fragile states globally to adopt a SWAp. This paper explores …
Building health systems capacity in global health graduate programs
There has been increasing focus on the role of health systems in low and middle-income countries. Despite this, very little evidence exists on how best to build health systems program and research capacity in educational programs. The current experiences in building capacity in health systems in five of the most prominent global health programs at Australian universities are outlined. The strengths and weaknesses of various approaches and techniq…
Critical care resources in the Solomon Islands
BACKGROUND: There are minimal data available on critical care case-mix, care processes and outcomes in lower and middle income countries (LMICs). The objectives of this paper were to gather data in the Solomon Islands in order to gain a better understanding of common presentations of critical illness, available hospital resources, and what resources would be helpful in improving the care of these patients in the future. METHODS: This study used a…
The pattern of injury and poisoning in South East Iran
BACKGROUND: Injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and even more so in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Iran is a LMIC and lacks information regarding injury for program and policy purposes. This study aimed to describe the incidence and patterns of injury in one province in South Eastern Iran. METHODS: A hospital-based, retrospective case review using a routinely collected registry in all Emergency Departments in…
Towards people-centred health systems
Although there is evidence that non-government health system actors can individually or collectively develop practical strategies to address primary health care (PHC) challenges in the community, existing frameworks for analysing health system governance largely focus on the role of governments, and do not sufficiently account for the broad range of contribution to PHC governance. This is important because of the tendency for weak governments in …
How decentralisation influences the retention of primary health care workers in rural Nigeria
BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, the shortage of health workers is worst at the primary health care (PHC) level, especially in rural communities. And the responsibility for PHC - usually the only form of formal health service available in rural communities - is shared among the three tiers of government (federal, state, and local governments). In addition, the responsibility for community engagement in PHC is delegated to community health committees. OBJE…
Transaction costs of access to health care
Health care costs incurred prior to the appropriate patient-provider transaction (i.e., transaction costs of access to health care) are potential barriers to accessing health care in low- and middle-income countries. This paper explores these transaction costs and their implications for health system governance through a cross-sectional survey of adult patients who received their first diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) at the three designa…
The government cannot do it all alone’
Since the mid-1980s, the national health policy in Nigeria has sought to inspire community engagement in primary health care by bringing communities into partnership with service providers through community health committees. Using a realist approach to understand how and under what circumstances the committees function, we explored 581 meeting minutes from 129 committees across four states in Nigeria (Lagos, Benue, Nasarawa and Kaduna). We found…
Institutional analysis of health system governance
It is important that researchers who study health system governance have a set of collective understandings of the meanings of governance, which can then inform the methods used in research. We present an institutional framing and definition of health system governance; that is, governance refers to making, changing, monitoring and enforcing the rules that govern the demand and supply of health services. This pervasive, relational view of governa…
A health care labyrinth
This qualitative study highlights and explores some of the barriers to childhood cancer care in India. Our findings show that referral pathways are intrinsically linked to the treatment experience and there should be better recognition of the financial and emotional challenges faced by the family that occur prior to definitive diagnosis and treatment. This information would help inform various stakeholders and contribute to improved interventions…
Access to care for childhood cancers in India
Although participants acknowledged that accessing childhood cancer care in India is limited by several barriers, perceptions of these barriers varied. Our findings illustrate that health care provider perceptions are shaped by their experiences, interests and standpoints, which are useful towards informing policy for childhood cancers within UHC
Guidelines for short-term medical missions
BACKGROUND: In the past decade, there has been increasing guideline development for short-term medical missions (STMMs) traveling from high-income to low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of supporting health care services. The ethics of STMMs is criticized in the literature and there is frequently a lack of host country collaboration. This typically results in guidelines which are developed through the lens of the sending (high-income…
Bullied Because of Their Teeth
Making life better for Indigenous peoples is a global priority. Although bullying and oral health have always been a topic of concern, there is limited information regarding the impact of this problem on the general population, with no evidence in this regard among the Australian Indigenous population. Thus, we aimed to quantify the relationship between bullying victimization and oral health problems by remoteness among 766 Australian Indigenous …
Protective Factors against Self-Harm and Suicidality among Australian Indigenous Adolescents
Background: Understanding and encouraging social and emotional well-being (SEWB) among Indigenous adolescents is vital in countering the impacts of colonisation and intergenerational trauma. As self-harm and suicidality are considered markers of poor SEWB among Indigenous communities, we aimed to identify the individual-level and community-level factors protecting Indigenous adolescents from self-harm and suicidality. Methods: Data came from Foot…
Identifying potential factors associated with PCR testing for Covid-19 among Australian young people
Age, remoteness and having a pre-existing medical illness were associated with PCR COVID-19 testing among Australian youth aged between 16 and 21 years in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. More research is warranted to identify factors associated with other COVID-19 testing methods and address the specific barriers that may limit COVID-19 testing in this age group
Persistence of the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2 in Australia
We modelled emergence and spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Australia between December 2021 and June 2022. This pandemic stage exhibited a diverse epidemiological profile with emergence of co-circulating sub-lineages of Omicron, further complicated by differences in social distancing behaviour which varied over time. Our study delineated distinct phases of the Omicron-associated pandemic stage, and retrospectively quantified the adop…
Health services for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote Australia
In Australia, there is a significant gap between health outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, which may relate to inequity in health service provision, particularly in remote areas. The aim was to conduct a scoping review to identify publications in the academic and grey literature and describe 1) Existing health services for Indigenous children in remote Australia and service use, 2) Workforce challenges in remote settings, 3) Char…
Role of internet use, mobile phone, media exposure and domestic migration on reproductive health service use in Bangladeshi married adolescents and young women
Numerous studies have identified factors that are associated with increased access to reproductive health services in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). However, limited studies examined the influence of access to internet or a mobile phone, media exposure and domestic migration on reproductive health services use in LMICs like Bangladesh. This study investigated the role of such factors on the use of contraceptives, antenatal care (ANC) and …
Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations Leading the Way in Child Health Research
Historically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research in Australia has adhered to Western research paradigms and contributed to the adverse impacts of colonisation. However, recent developments driven by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and scholars, and development of ethical guidelines for research, have promoted a more inclusive and collaborative research landscape. In this study, published papers and internal documents aris…
School Connectedness Boosts Mental Health in Indigenous Adolescents With Adverse Childhood Experiences
BACKGROUND: The study examined whether school connectedness mediates the association between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and mental health conditions among Indigenous adolescents, and if this mediation varies by school type-Public versus Private/Catholic METHODS: Using data from 13 waves of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) in Australia (2008-2020), the present study examined the potential mediating effects of school c…
Models of care for Indigenous children in rural and remote settings
Indigenous communities internationally have demonstrated remarkable strength despite significant challenges. Health disparities among Indigenous peoples persist due to historical injustices and ongoing racial discrimination, not inherent vulnerabilities. Disparities are rooted in a legacy of colonisation, systemic exclusion, and socio-economic inequities impacting access to healthcare, education, and employment. Preliminary searches show limited …
Medicine (22 works) · Health care (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · Environmental health (10 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (10 works) · Nursing (10 works) · Public health (9 works) · Business (8 works) · Economic growth (8 works) · Demography (7 works)