Funding for Indigenous health and medical research

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has allocated $190 million in funding for health and medical research, including a $10.6 million investment supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research.

Announcing the news today, Minister for Health Sussan Ley said the funds will help Australia’s research community make discoveries that improve the diagnosis, treatment and cure of illnesses that can affect Indigenous Australians. They are part of NHMRC’s commitment to expend at least 5% of its budget to support research to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The announcement includes $2.5 million for a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) to build Indigenous research capacity and to find solutions to alcohol-related health problems. The centre, led by Professor Kate Conigrave at the University of Sydney, will build a strong network of Indigenous researchers with expertise in preventing and treating alcohol-related problems.

Professor Conigrave said the funding will provide a major pathway forward in research to reduce the harms from alcohol among Indigenous Australians, who are “eight times more likely to suffer death or illness as a result of alcohol use”.

“The team will generate new knowledge, integrating efforts along the continuum of treatment and prevention for unhealthy alcohol use,” she said. “The centre is designed to ensure that evidence will be readily translated into practice and policy.

“The CRE also offers a range of training and development opportunities to Indigenous research students and early-career researchers. It will provide pathways into postgraduate research study for Indigenous Australians, with comprehensive support and training at every step along the way.”

Together with this CRE, NHMRC has committed to fund research targeting a range of other health issues for Indigenous Australians including:

• improving outcomes of Hepatitis B infection;
• improving diet quality and food supply in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• implementing interventions to improve health and justice outcomes for Indigenous offenders;
• addressing the high rates of depression amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

The announcement also includes three Early Career Fellowships (ECFs) for Indigenous researchers, one of which was awarded to Associate Professor James Ward from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. His research seeks to establish interventions to improve outcomes for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with sexually transmissible infections or bloodborne viruses and for people using methamphetamines.

In total, $190 million was spread across 320 health and medical research grants. This includes $100 million investment for fostering career development and supporting leading health and medical researchers in full-time research, comprising $58 million to support Research Fellowships and $38 million to fund ECFs.

The full list of grant recipients can be found on the NHMRC website.