NHMRC funding for prevention research

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The NHMRC has awarded $7.7 million to the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre to continue its work on the prevention of lifestyle-related chronic disease.

The funding was announced by rural health minister Bridget McKenzie at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney.

Professor Andrew Wilson, who is the Prevention Centre director, said the new funding would enable it to translate its findings into action designed to address chronic diseases.

“Chronic disease is Australia’s number one cause of preventable death, disability and healthcare costs,” said Professor Wilson.

“Australia has done well in some aspects of chronic disease prevention, most notably in tobacco control and management of cardiac disease risk factors like high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. But we have a long way to go in terms of obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, preventable or screenable cancers, and mental health.

“Discovery research has provided the evidence for what we could do better in prevention. The mission of the Prevention Centre is to better inform the decisions about what we do and how we do it – putting the research into action.”

The Prevention Centre is a national collaboration founded in 2013.

The $7.7 million grant from NHMRC is in addition to support from other organisations including the Department of Health, the Health Departments of New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, Cancer Council Australia and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, VicHealth, bringing the total value of the Centre to over $15 million.