- More than $6.5 million for child and adolescent
health research
- 11 child health research projects share funding
ahead of Telethon 2023
- Grants funded by the Cook Government and Channel
7 Telethon Trust
A new
round of WA Child Research Fund (WACRF) grants worth more than $6.5 million is set to significantly
boost health research for Western Australia's youngest citizens.
Co-funded by the Cook Government and
the Channel 7 Telethon Trust, the WACRF supports research aimed at improving
outcomes for child and adolescent health across the State.
This year 11 diverse child health research
applicants are sharing the funding, including several projects that address
winter illness - timely following WA's recent seasonal spike in respiratory
conditions.
The funding will support Clinical Professor
André Schultz from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and Telethon Kids
Institute (TKI) to examine why some Aboriginal children develop bronchiectasis,
a serious lung condition resulting from bronchiolitis that reflects permanent
lung damage. The team is hoping to find ways to prevent bronchiectasis for
these vulnerable children.
Another grant will support UWA's Professor Mark
Nicol to lead work developing next-generation probiotics to prevent childhood
pneumonia.
The potential benefits of this work include
reduced hospitalisations, reduction in antimicrobial resistance and other
diseases associated with early life exposure to antibiotics, and improved
long-term respiratory health for children.
The WACRF will also support Professor Peter
Richmond from UWA and TKI and his team to use results from a WA-led clinical
trial testing a vaccine for Pneumococcal PCV in combination with other
vaccines. This research aims to develop a way to improve the protection of
vulnerable children from severe infection.
The WACRF is administered through the
Department of Health's Office of Medical Research and Innovation. Grants of up
to $600,000 each over three years are awarded to successful child and
adolescent health research projects.
The full list of
recipients can be found on the WA
Child Research Fund website.
Comments
attributed to Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:
"The Cook Government is
committed to supporting and developing important health and medical research
outcomes for Western Australian children.
"These projects are just
a few of the incredibly important studies that our medical researchers and
innovators are working on to ensure better health outcomes for WA kids.
"This research work is
key to finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and chronic
conditions in our children."
