Professor Mike Hazelton (Head of School), Dr Helen Bellchambers (Senior Lecturer) and five students from the School of Nursing and Midwifery have just returned from the 7th Asia Pacific Alliance of Health Leaders (APAHL) forum hosted by the Faculty of Nursing and Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences at Chiang Mai University in Northern Thailand.

This year APAHL's theme was Evidenced-based Practice for Health Promotion with seminars presented by academics, health professionals and students to discuss and raise the awareness of global health promotion.

The five students attending from the University of Newcastle included Luke Brunner, Rebecca Gaston, Melanie Carstairs, Laurelea Bickhoff & Janene Gageler. Their presentation to the APAHL forum, Developing skills in health promotion and leadership included:

• An introduction to the University of Newcastle and the School of Nursing and Midwifery
• An overview of the School's Nursing and Midwifery programs and the health system within Australia
• What is health promotion?
• Obesity in Australia and its causes
• Mental health promotion and goals within Australia
• The Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI)

Further presentations by students included Challenge for independent living of Thai people with disability, Health promotion in elderly in Thailand, Disaters and post traumatic stress disorder, Laboratory scientists and public health issues from the Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami, Smart phone notification service and Integrating Thai culture into health promotion.

Faculty presentations included:

• Health promotion strategies for overweight children: Mahidol University
• Evidenced-based practice: Distraction intervention for children: Ewha Womans University
• 21st century measures for national health promotion: Yamaguchi University
• Using technology for health promotion education: The University of Newcastle
• Engaging students in the promotion of health research in health promotion: Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University
• Strategy for health promotion in ageing society in Thailand: Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University

Attendees also visited the University Teaching Hospital attached to Chiang Mai University and community hospitals within the rural community. During this time the students attending APAHL were able see how the Thai health system at work, in particular, how traditional western medicine and health care practices are integrated alongside traditional Thai practices.

The 7th Asia Pacific Alliance of Health Leaders (APAHL) Forum was held from 24 October through to 27 October. APAHL was established 10 years ago to create an international link between universities across the Asia Pacific region and nursing, allied health professionals and future student leaders. The Alliance comprises of:

• EWHA Womans University (South Korea)
• Chiang Mai University (Northern Thailand)
• Mahidol University (Thailand)
• The University of Newcastle (Australia)
• Yamaguchi University (Japan)

The 2012 APAHL forum will be hosted by the EWHA Womans University in South Korea.