SPHERE Director, Professor Danielle Mazza, has been awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.  

 

According to their website, "the aim of the Trust is to provide an opportunity for Australians to travel overseas to conduct research in their chosen field that is not readily available in Australia. It also aims to reward proven achievement of talented and deserving Australians with further opportunity in their pursuit of excellence for the enrichment of Australian society."

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Continuing on from the SPHERE research program, Professor Mazza's research will focus on how to reduce inequities in access to medical abortion through better integration into primary care. Her work will take her to Ireland, Sweden, USA, and Canada where she will observe successful international models of medical abortion service provision in primary care and translate the relevant elements into the Australian setting.

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Professor Mazza says that this project will reduce the significant inequities in access to care that currently exist in Australia, especially in rural and remote and disadvantaged areas where rates of unplanned pregnancy are disproportionately higher.

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"By integrating medical abortion into primary care, women will be able to receive more comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services at their local general practice, which can help reduce unplanned pregnancies and enable women to achieve their own reproductive goals."

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