The National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded $190 million funding 320 health and medical research grants, which brings the total funding the NHMRC has awarded in 2016 to $214 million. The agency will also fund global research of chronic lung diseases with $5 million.
The new investment includes:
Indigenous health research is a special focus of the funding, including $2.5 million for a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) to build Indigenous research capacity. In total, the NHMRC awarded $10.6 million for research projects targeting Indigenous health issues. These include:
Earlier in October, the NHMRC announced that it will contribute $5 million to the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD).
The GACD is a collaboration of major international public research funding agencies that support joint research programs targeting non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries, and also vulnerable populations in high-income countries, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The NHMRC funding will support the GACD's third joint activity, funding 16 international research projects on chronic lung diseases.
This also includes lung cancer, which is both the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the leading cause of cancer deaths for this population.