STIs in Mine Sites Webinar

This webinar will focus on strategies to tackle the issue of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in mine sites with feedback received from OHS workplace representatives across Western Australia (WA) mines.

Sexual Health Services in Perth have reported that some individuals with STIs have received ineffective and inappropriate treatments at certain mine sites in the Pilbara. Inadequate treatment can increase the risk of antibiotic resistance and the transmission of infections. In 2023, WA reported 12,885 notified cases of chlamydia (454 in the Pilbara) and 4,701 notified cases of gonorrhoea (209 in the Pilbara).

Dr Peter Connaughton - MB BCh, LRCP&SI, FACOEM, MBA, FAFOEM

Peter Connaughton is an occupational physician working in Perth, and he has consulted to Rio Tinto Iron Ore for the past 16 years. He served as President of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) from 2016 to 2018, and he remains a member of the "It Pays to Care" working group. He is the Secretary of the International Occupational Medicine Society Collaborative (IOMSC), which now has members from over 50 countries and is actively collaborating with the WHO. Peter initially trained in OEM at the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh, and his special interests include assessing the value and impact of occupational health strategies.

Professor Donna Mak

Donna is a public health medicine physician at the Communicable Disease Control Directorate in the WA Department of Health and Domain Chair of Population and Preventive Health at Notre Dame University’s School of Medicine. She works clinically at the M Clinic, a sexual health clinic for gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM). Her previous work includes general practice in Fitzroy Crossing and public health medicine in the Kimberley Public Health Unit.

Dr Simon Slota-Kan

Simon is a public health medicine physician for the Pilbara and Goldfields Public Health Units in the WA Country Health Service. Before this, he was the Senior Medical Officer with Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service in Newman, WA. He has endorsement for CPOP (Opiate Replacement Therapy) and as an S100 prescriber for Hepatitis B and HIV. His past experience includes remote work with the Northern Territory Government, primary care in remote communities focused on chronic disease, medical education with the RACGP and RACP, and multiple roles in the Victorian Department of Health as Medical Advisor Public Health in environmental health, communicable disease control, partner notification, food safety, and medicinal cannabis.

Dr Fergus McCabe - MBBS (Hons), BSc (Hons), S100, MASHM, FRACGP

Originally from Ireland, Fergus was the first male to study Speech Pathology there. He came to WA in 1990 to work at RPH before entering medical school at Flinders University in Adelaide in 1997.

After completing his internship, he returned to WA, working at Fremantle Hospital and entering the Physicians Training Program, where he developed a specific interest in infectious diseases. He then spent nine years in Dublin, working in the HIV/Addiction Service.

Fergus returned to Australia to begin his General Practice Training in 2013, completing his FRACGP in 2014. He's the Medical governor of The West Australian AIDS Council M Clinic and has worked as a specialised S100 GP in HIV and sexual health for the past 13 years and is a partner at View Street Medical which is a general practice in Noth Perth specialising in HIV and sexual health with Dr Belinda Wozencroft.

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