Better health and ageing for all Australians

Media Releases

Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin to receive more than $4 million in research funding

Projects aimed at improving Indigenous patients' access to kidney transplants and to determine the impact that improved housing has had on the health of children living in remote Aboriginal communities, are two of seven projects to receive more than $4 million in research funding next year.

In this section:

30 October 2002

Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin to recieve more than $4 million in research funding

Projects aimed at improving Indigenous patients' access to kidney transplants and to determine the impact that improved housing has had on the health of children living in remote Aboriginal communities, are two of seven projects to receive more than $4 million in research funding next year.

All seven projects will be undertaken at the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.

Announcing the funding today, Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, congratulated the successful applicants saying the National Health and Medical Research Council's annual project funding round was highly competitive.

"In total, 406 important health and medical research projects across Australia will receive more than $150 million in funding from the NHMRC next year. Funding applications to the NHMRC are extensively peer reviewed and successful applicants can be justly proud of their achievement," she said.

"I am pleased to note that the number of projects related to Indigenous health have more than doubled in this year's round, with more than $8 million going to a variety of projects throughout Australia-representing more than five per cent of all the new Project Funding Agreements.

"While the Northern Territory has received just a small portion - almost three per cent of the total the available funds - the seven projects are indicative of the quality of research being undertaken by scientists from the Menzies School of Health Research," she added.

"All the projects are important and focus on the particular needs of Australia's Indigenous people. For example, Indigenous Australians develop end-stage renal disease at up to thirty times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians.

"People with end-stage renal disease need dialysis or a transplant to stay alive, but Indigenous Australians, especially those living in remote communities, have a significantly lower chance of receiving a transplant. One project aims to identify what the barriers to transplantation are and to propose strategies to reduce disparities in Indigenous Australians' access to renal transplantation," Senator Patterson said.

The funding for health and medical research in Australia was doubled by the Commonwealth in the 1999-2000 Federal Budget, as a result of the Wills Review.

Details of the 406 Project Funding Agreements are at: www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/outcom02.htm

Media Contact: Randal Markey, Media Adviser, (02) 6277 7220
Jeanne Klener, Media Unit, NHMRC, (02) 6289 5796