Featured Posts

Kenya Spur Afrika 2021 - Holo

Today we visited six of the supported children at Holo, Kisumu, Kenya. As in the previous two days, it was a pleasure to be welcomed to the homes of the families of the supported children.

Kenya Spur Afrika 2021 - Holo Mothers

Day 1 - Holo, Kisumu. - Happy New Year EVE! We are finally here! With a early start and about 2 hours of travel from Nairobi, we landed at Kisumu.

Kenya Spur Afrika 2021 - Kibera informal settlement

Today we had the opportunity and honour to visit some households in the Kibera informal settlement (slum) of Nairobi. It was good to see some of the recent improvements in infrastructure in Kibera, such as the sealing and widening of internal roads.

Contributing to the Tidyverse (dbplyr)

I was acknowledged as a contributor to the version 2.0.0 release of dbplyr! dbplyr is the database backend for the ‘data pliers dplyr’ data manipulation package in the tidyverse software suite of R statistical programming language.

Carolling with Pandoc - ‘automatic’ PowerPoint lyric slides

Converting lyrics (in text/‘markdown’ format) to PowerPoint Christmas carols and worship songs lyrics are easily (and sometimes freely) available across the Internet. One source is SongSelect (by CCLI), though SongSelect is not free, but does help congregations support song-writers by paying appropriate royalty fees.

3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated

3:16 Bible Texts illuminated, a book written by well-known computer scientist Donald E. Knuth. Studies in reasonable detail the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of the books in the Bible.

Fong, Louie and Kwong

History of the Fong, Louie and Kwong family names, the Soo Yuen Benevolent Association and other genealogy information.

Spur Afrika Mobile Clinics 2020

Spur Afrika mobile clinics were held in January 2020, seeing children from several schools in Kibera, Kenya, and children sponsored by the Spur Afrika Elimsha program. Health activities included medical and dental checks, dental hygiene education and medication education.

Posts

Isotope and Fancybox Galleries on Blogdown

The Wowchemy theme (formerly Hugo Academic) can ‘tile’ irregularly shaped posts in a grid, using the Isotope Javascript library. In another post I describe how the ‘cascading card’ layout can be used in the Wowchemy’s pages widget (used for ‘posts’, ‘talks’ and ‘publications’).

Windows 10 on Chromebook (Linux ‘Crostini’ container)

Using Windows 10 Chromebook (using the ‘Crostini’ Linux container) My Chromebook, a Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 with i5-10210U CPU and 8GB of memory, is extremely versatile. It can operate Android apps which are not available for Linux e.

Kenya Spur Afrika 2021 - Training

“Whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are pleasing, whatever things

Kenya Spur Afrika 2021 - Equity

“Let justice roll on like the water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 但愿公正好象潮水滚流， 公义好

Kenya Spur Afrika 2021 - Return

Touch down!! We are back in Melbourne safely!! 😁😆 Thank you for your support, encouragement and prayers. God is great! It was very fast getting out of the airport, they didn’t check any of our COVID documents.

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Projects

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All Kenya

The role of community-based service organisations in the humanitarian response to infectious disease crises in vulnerable populations of sub-Saharan Africa

Community-based organisations can assist in providing flexible, localised and adaptive responses to epidemic crises, strengthening community resilience
The role of community-based service organisations in the humanitarian response to infectious disease crises in vulnerable populations of sub-Saharan Africa

COVID vaccination effectiveness

Is Astra-Zeneca doses administered (at least a single dose) - as a proportion of all COVID vaccination administered - related to a national reduction in COVID-19 cases and death?
COVID vaccination effectiveness

Results marked ‘non-urgent discussion’ - rate of notification without a result notification procedure (2015/2017)

Without any procedure to ‘recall’ patients who have a result marked ‘non-urgent discussion’, how many results are notified over the following weeks?
Results marked ‘non-urgent discussion’ - rate of notification without a result notification procedure (2015/2017)

Relationship between morbidity potentially attributable to air pollution and gender in Kibera, Kenya.

The relationship between gender and symptoms and conditions potentially aggravated by air pollution is explored amongst school-age children seen during a screening clinic in Kibera, an informal settlement of Nairobi, Kenya.
Relationship between morbidity potentially attributable to air pollution and gender in Kibera, Kenya.

Pharmacists in General Practice

Pharmacists in general practice are expected to improve medication efficacy and reduce medication complications and adverse effects. In order for pharmacists in practice to be sustainable, practice revenue needs to be taken into consideration.
Pharmacists in General Practice

Spur Afrika Mobile Clinics 2020

Spur Afrika mobile clinics were held in January 2020, seeing children from several schools in Kibera, Kenya, and children sponsored by the Spur Afrika Elimsha program. Health activities included medical and dental checks, dental hygiene education and medication education.
Spur Afrika Mobile Clinics 2020

Cervical screening and intensive telephone-based case-finding

Identifying eligible women who either have no recorded cervical screening or whose last recorded screening is very overdue (most recent result 45 months or older ‘Pap’ smear) for targeted telephone-based recall.
Cervical screening and intensive telephone-based case-finding

20210702_1034_0046 fuschia

20210702_1034_0046 fuschia (Victoria)

20210530_1138_0042 dahlia

20210530_11138_0042 dahlia (Kew, Victoria)

20210208_1727 flower

20210208_1722 flower (Kensington, Victoria)

20210208_1720 flower

20210208_1720 flower (Kensington, Victoria)

20210128_1635_0391 rose

20210128_1635_0391 rose

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Publications

Efficacy of high dose Vitamin D supplementation in improving serum 25(OH)D among migrant and non migrant population: a retrospective study

Following 50000 IU vitamin D3 for 12 months mean serum 25(OH)D increase was highest among those whose baseline serum 25(OH)D was lower. Migrants especially dark-skinned are at a high risk for vitamin D deficiency in Australia. High dose vitamin D3 50000 IU (cholecalciferol) is effective in achieving sufficient serum 25(OH)D among these populations who tend to have lower baseline serum 25(OH)D.
Usha Gowda, Thilanga Ruwanpathirana, David Fong, Ambika Kaur, Andre M.N. Renzaho
PDF DOI

Vitamin D testing patterns among general practitioners in a major Victorian primary health care service

This study examined 25(OH)D testing patterns and frequency among general practitioners in a major community health service. dvancing age, being female and being a migrant were associated with an increased likelihood of vitamin D testing. Implications: Development of evidence-based policies and guidelines are needed to manage over-testing of vitamin D in Australia. Studies that include health services from different areas are required to understand vitamin D testing patterns among the general practitioners.
Usha Gowda, Ben J. Smith, Anita E. Wluka, David Fong, Ambika Kaur, Andre M.N. Renzaho
PDF DOI

Assessment of vitamin D and its association with cardiovascular disease risk factors in an adult migrant population: an audit of patient records at a Community Health Centre in Kensington, Melbourne, Australia

Vitamin D deficiency is a global public health problem associated with increased risk of cardio-metabolic diseases and osteoarthritis. Migrants with dark skin settled in temperate climates are at greater risk of both vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to identify the risk of vitamin D deficiency and associations with cardiovascular disease in a migrant population in Australia.
Thilanga Ruwanpathirana, Christopher M Reid, Alice J Owen, David Fong, Usha Gowda, Andre M N Renzaho
PDF DOI

Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease among African migrant and refugee adults in Melbourne

Migration to industrialised countries poses a “double whammy” for type 2 diabetes among sub-Saharan African migrant and refugee adults. This population group has been found to be at an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, which may be further aggravated by inadequate vitamin D status. Thus, this study aimed to describe the demographics of vitamin D insufficiency, obesity, and risk factors for type 2 diabetes among sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees aged 20 years or older living in Melbourne, Australia (n=49).
Andre Renzaho, Caryl Nowson, Ambi Kaur, Jennifer A Halliday, David Fong, Janina DeSilva
PDF

Usage of complementary medicine among children

Determining the prevalence of and parental attitudes toward the usage of complementary medicine among the paediatric population of a large regional public hospital in Victoria. Relationships between complementary medicine usage and sociological or medical data of the surveyed families are explored.
LK Fong, David Fong
PDF PubMed PDF (colour)
David Fong

David Fong

Lead doctor, Kensington site, coHealth

coHealth community health service

Biography

David Fong is a general practitioner (family medicine doctor) working at coHealth, Kensington site. He volunteers with Spur Afrika (child development program) in Kibera, Kenya, and Elim and Agape childrens’ home (HIV and disability) in Xi’an, China.

Interests

  • development work
  • teaching
  • monitoring and evaluation

Education

  • Data, Economics and Development Policy, 2019

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MITx)

  • Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practice, 2001

    Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)

  • Diploma of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 1999

    Royal Australia & New Zealand College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (RANZCOG)

  • MBBS, 1994

    University of Melbourne

Popular Topics

air pollution Australia Christianity Chromebook coHealth COVID Crostini epiphyllum general practice Holo Kenya Kibera Kisumu mobile clinic Nairobi paediatrics R Spur Afrika Spur Afrika 2021 vitamin D insufficiency

Contact

  • 12 Gower Street, Kensington, Victoria, 3031
  • Linkedin