Australia and Singapore Research to Tackle Emerging Infectious Diseases
A new medical research partnership with the Singapore Government to fight three of the most infectious diseases in the Asia-Pacific region has been announced.
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10 April 2013
The Gillard Government has announced a new medical research partnership with the Singapore Government to fight three of the most infectious diseases in the Asia-Pacific region.
Joint funding of $3.5 million will support five research teams based in Australia and Singapore working on research projects that will address infectious diseases including tuberculosis, dengue fever and influenza. Influenza occurs every year in every country, seasonally and sporadically, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and causing severe illness in several million more.
“Infectious diseases such as SARS, avian and swine flu are significant threats to public health in the Asia Pacific region. It is vital that we work with regional partners to prepare for potential outbreaks and successfully treat the cases that are currently emerging in our region,” Ms Plibersek said.
Today’s announcement is a further example of the Gillard Government’s focus on engaging with Asia.
“The Gillard Government is committed to implementing our White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century and its policy framework for expanding and diversifying the science, economic, education, cultural and arts links with the countries of the Asia region”, Ms Plibersek said.
The joint funding is being allocated through Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
“This collaboration demonstrates Australia’s capacity to join other world-leading research bodies and achieve much more than if countries tried to tackle these issues individually” NHMRC CEO, Professor Warwick Anderson said.
Participating Australian research institutions include the University of Melbourne, Monash University, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health, the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory and Melbourne Health.
Participating Singaporean research institutions include the National University of Singapore, A*STAR’s Bioinformatics Institute, the Genome Institute of Singapore and the Singapore Immunology Network.
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