Professor Warwick Anderson
Dear Ms McLaughlin
Re: Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board
Thank you for your letter of 17 July 2008 inviting the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to provide a submission to the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) review. On behalf of the Council, I would like to offer the assistance of NHMRC in any way that will aid decisive and enduring improvements in health in Aboriginal communities.
NHMRC believes that Australia should strive to learn from public policy interventions, by embedding research into the intervention and monitoring the effects. I would welcome the opportunity for NHMRC and its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Research Advisory Committee to advise the NTER Review on emerging priority health research activities that may arise from this review, or assist in the development of evidence-based health advice on the health issues in Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Research Advisory Committee has been established to advise me on strategies to improve the effectiveness of NHMRC's response to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health issues, and to ensure NHMRC continues to identify and support the highest quality and most relevant Indigenous health research.
NHMRC is committed to improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by supporting high quality health and medical research, fostering health and medical research ethics and fostering the development of consistent health standards. Part of this commitment is the allocation of 5 percent of NHMRC’s Medical Research Endowment Account to research directly relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Expenditure on Indigenous health research in calendar year 2007 was more than $23 million, with expenditure expected to exceed $30 million by the end of 2008.
In the last 5 years, NHMRC has built an improved capacity to undertake Indigenous health research. Strengthening Indigenous health research and researcher capacity has been achieved through the funding of special NHMRC initiatives such as:
- Centres of Clinical Research Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health;
- Strategic Awards, in particular towards A Healthy Start to Life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children; Short Term Exchange Scheme to encourage Indigenous researchers to pursue research opportunities in Australia, New Zealand or Canada with a goal of improving Indigenous health in the three countries;
- Training Scholarships for Indigenous Health Research; and
- Training Fellowship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research
In recognising the need to develop a cohesive and coordinated approach to addressing the health research needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in 2002, NHMRC released the Road Map: A Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research, (see http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/_files/r28.pdf). The Roadmap outlines six research themes critical for ensuring substantial health gain for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, focusing on:
- Descriptive research which outlines patterns of health risk, disease and death;
- Research on factors and processes that promote resilience and wellbeing;
- Health services research;
- The association between health status, health gain and health policy;
- Support for research in under-researched areas; and
- Increasing Indigenous health research capacity.
We have recently completed a review of the Roadmap, and will have by year’s end developed its successor document.
To assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when making decisions about health research, NHMRC has released Keeping Research on Track: a guide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about health research ethics (2006). The publication aims to improve the way researchers work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and raises awareness of the rights of participants in the health research (see http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/e65syn.htm).
If you would like to discuss how NHMRC can assist in supporting emerging research needs arising from the NTER review, please contact me on (02) 6217 9200.
Yours sincerely
Professor Warwick Anderson
Chief Executive Officer
15 August 2008