"As long as you are still on the ladder, you will get to the top. Keep climbing."

Being a PhD student and new to research life, the rigorous process of ethical application for a complex study like mine pushed me to my limits. Although I had very supportive supervisors, they did not spare me from being critical of my work. In fact, my principal supervisor Dr Julie Anne King will say, “Aaron sometimes it is best to be blunt …

As a community development worker for many years, my work in health and governance programs has been driven by a sentimental but massive passion which has kept me in the development sector. My focus has remained in the field of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). My passion in the field of HIV directed my path to conceptualise and commence a doctoral …

This virtual conference was organised by the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) to provide a platform for researchers in the HIV, Hepatitis and Sexual Health field to collaborate and share knowledge. This conference was particularly important because researchers also shared learnings about future strategies in times of a pandemic. COVID-19 was at the centre …

Over 36 million people are living with HIV globally. This year, the global community is charged to work in solidarity and shared responsibility to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030. Although there are different aspects to this, I am particularly concerned about the marginalisation and oppression Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) are subjected to in the space of …

The School of Public Health and Social Work organised the Impact Makers 2020 conference on November 11th 2020. The conference, which was the first of its kind in the school, was meticulously designed to provide a platform for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students to showcase their research, collaborate and learn from the important research of other HDRs. In addition …

Dear AAP, It was humbling to see your pictures and information being featured on the QUT (Queensland University of Technology) website. Keep climbing, Keep impacting. Do not stop. Regards, AAP #AAPTalks# CommmunityDevelopmentWorker. #Aa2Zi

Dear friends, On Wednesday morning (16/09/2020), I received this email. It was sad news for a studentship (scholarship) I applied for. This studentship had a £5,500 value. While it is important to celebrate the wins (as I always do), it is also important to acknowledge the significance of failures and disappointments. It would be hypocritical of me to claim that …

Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have continued to suffer structural marginalization across various spheres/sectors. This is seen in Health, Education, Agriculture, etc. In fact, it has been argued that “Impairment + Barrier = Disability”. In analysing and putting this into perspective, an impairment without any structural barrier has been argued to not mean Disability. Although this school of thought could suffer …

PHSW in the media Public health PhD researcher Aaron Akpu Phillip appears on national television in Nigeria to discuss the public health implications of re-opening schools. In this interview, Aaron advocates for: ✅ learning from the experiences of other countries but implementing localised solutions; ✅ policies to ensure students with disabilities are included in considerations for re-opening ✅ funding and …

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities was adopted in 1992. This document seeks to promote respect for the fundamental human rights of all people regardless of them being a minority due to race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, disability etc. In our world, discrimination abounds in different contexts …