Our research in population health

Our research in population health is conducted within the Public Health Research Unit at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, and applies the principles of epidemiology to the causes and prevention of ill-health in specific populations. We collect and compare statistics on disease, mortality, hospitalisations, treatment outcomes and healthcare costs in hospitals throughout Australasia.

This data is used to inform other research streams in the Children's Research Centre and improve the health services administered by the Women's and Children's Hospital and the South Australian Department of Health. An important part of our role is to determine the causes of disease within particular communities, identify risk factors, and support hospitals in their assessment of patient outcomes.

Our work is inspired by the founders of modern epidemiology, including John Snow (1813 - 1858), a British physician who discovered that London's cholera epidemic of 1854 was caused by a single contaminated water pump; as well as Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910), an English nurse and statistician, who pioneered the use of graphics to report on the nature and magnitude of medical care received by soldiers in the Crimean War.