The proposed Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is one of the most important initiatives in the nation’s history to ensure that Australia stays at the leading edge of medical and health research and continues to transform the health of people around the country.

The MRFF will build to a $20 billion perpetual fund that will help secure funding for health and medical research into the future, providing $1 billion in annual disbursements by 2022-23. This will transform the long-term future of health and medical research in Australia, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the Australian health system.

We at The George Institute for Global Health welcome the MRFF as it offers an opportunity to target investment in finding the best ways to address the biggest health issues facing Australians and to create a sustainable health system.  

Our submission to the Senate endorses the proposed governance model and makes further recommendations including:

• Prioritising patient needs by tailoring investment in the prevention and treatment of conditions that cause the greatest burden of disease and injury in Australia.
• Maximising innovation and translation of research into practice by boosting investment in:
  
  • Research to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes
  • Clinical trial infrastructure to support high quality research
  • Funding schemes to support clinician researchers

The MRFF is about making sure all Australians are getting the best and right treatment when they need it. It’s about the improving the health of all Australians, today and in the future.

What you can do

• Read our submission to the MRFF (PDF 82KB)
• Read the submissions from other organisations to the MRFF
• Follow #voteMRFF on Twitter
• Contact your local Member of Parliament to encourage their support for the MRFF
• Visit the MRFF Action Group website for more on how you can get involved

New research from the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C) confirms that childhood cancer occurrences rises with increasing birthweight, but shows that this is unlikely to be primarily due to a mother’s weight gain during pregnancy – an important contributor to size of the baby. The finding is believed to be an important step toward eventually understanding how to prevent childhood cancer. The study was recently published in the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.

The study was the first designed to specifically collect data before the children developed cancer. It includes pooled data on infant and parental characteristics and cancer incidence, covered 380,000 live births. It was collected from studies going back more than 50 years from six geographically diverse regions, including the UK, USA, Denmark, Israel, Norway and Australia. The total analysis included 377 children with cancer, including 115 with leukaemia and 262 with non-leukaemia-type cancers.

“We have been able to compile a significant amount of evidence that effectively shows that childhood cancer incidence rises with increasing birthweight,” said Professor Terry Dwyer, the Executive Director for The George Institute for Global Health. “While we observed a correlation between increased birthweight and higher risk of cancer incidence in children, there were no significant interactions with maternal pre-pregnancy overweight or pregnancy weight gain.”

The study showed that after adjusting for gestational age and sex an increased risk of 26 percent for every kilogram increase in birthweight was observed for all cancers. In older children (diagnosed at or after three years of age), cancers other than leukaemia are particularly related to high birthweight.

“At The George Institute we are focused on the prevention, treatment and care of noncommunicable diseases, like cancer,” said Professor Dwyer. “I am more optimistic that we’ll find ways of preventing childhood cancer than I was when we started this study 10 years ago. We know that there are no easy answers, but we are assembling more clues, like this piece of evidence, which will help us fill in the puzzle. Additional research into childhood cancer is needed so that we can provide actionable solutions to improve outcomes for future generations.”

I4C researchers plan to follow this study up with several lines of inquiry, including: looking at data in new cohorts such as in Japan and China to see whether this association exists there as well; investigating other factors that have some relationship to birth weight, such as birth order, to see whether the association is similar in infants of different birth order; and making cord blood measurements from infants in the cohorts to determine whether growth hormones of various types explain what we have found.

Dwyer, a Professor of Epidemiology at the Oxford Martin School and the Nuffield Dept. of Population Health, also leads the I4C, an international alliance of longitudinal studies of children. The I4C aims to make major contributions in advancing understanding of the role of early-life exposures in childhood cancers.

While previous studies have posited on the connection between childhood cancers and high birthweights, the collaboration of the six cohorts has allowed the examination of a wider range of potential factors measured prospectively including maternal age, marital status, education level, smoking propensity, previous live births, diabetes, pre-pregnancy BMI and total pregnancy weight gain.

Researchers used state-of-the-art statistical techniques to analyse the complex data set. The final dataset excluded multiple births due to higher rates of low birthweight and children with Down syndrome due to previously observed higher risks of childhood leukaemia. 

At current rates 280 Australians develop diabetes every day.  For an unlucky few, type 1 diabetes is unavoidable and will arrive early in life.   But most people who get diabetes suffer from type 2 diabetes that comes on later in life.  Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to an unhealthy lifestyle.

The good news is that most people can avoid or delay type 2 diabetes.  If you have type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes already then lifestyle changes can also greatly improve your outlook. To mark National Diabetes Week, Professor Bruce Neal, director of the Food Policy unit at the George Institute for Global Health, shares his top five tips for lowering your diabetes risk.

1. Don’t get fat!

The single biggest cause of type 2 diabetes is being overweight or obese.  If like many Australians you spend most of your life in the car, at a desk or on the couch, then you're at high risk for overweight or obesity and have a greatly increased risk of getting diabetes.  “The modern lifestyle is the key to understanding and preventing diabetes,” explains Professor Neal.  "We evolved a physiology for a completely different lifestyle where food was scarce and exercise was plentiful."

Of course weight control is incredibly difficult for many people.  Professor Neal is firmly of the view that government and the food industry need to do much more to help people maintain a healthy weight.  “It’s not fashionable to advocate for the nanny state,” says Professor Neal, “but letting the food industry hook children on addictive junk is entirely unreasonable.  We have to have better controls because kids and parents can’t do it alone.’’

2. Eat a bit less junk

Sitting back and waiting for the government to solve the problem clearly isn’t going to work either. What you eat is the primary determinant of your weight and your diabetes risk and you can do something about it too.  The problem foods are the so-called discretionary foods and junk foods.  Heavily advertised, massively processed and looking nothing like what they are made from, these foods are the key to the obesity crisis. 

Professor Neal’s advice is don’t try and cut them out completely but make some small changes that are sustainable – next time you shop don’t buy two packets of biscuits but instead get one packet and some fruit or nuts to replace the other.  When you next order take out think about skipping one of the side dishes or use the menu board labelling to choose an option with less energy (kilojoules/calories). The kilojoule labels required on the menu boards of chain restaurants have been shown to reduce the energy content of junk food purchases by 10 to 15%.  That’s more than enough to stop you getting fat.

3. Use the Health Star Rating food labels

Late last year the government and the food industry agreed on a new Star labelling system for foods.  Already there are more than 1000 foods on the shelves with a label that shows between ½ star and 5 stars.  And the number should increase rapidly.  Buy foods with Star labels and choose the option with the most stars.  If something doesn’t have a star label it’s probably got something to hide so think twice before picking it.  The exception of course is fruits and vegetables which almost always get 5 stars and are always a good choice.

4. Get a little more exercise

The fitter and healthier you are, the less likely you are to get overweight and the less likely you are to get diabetes.  "Every little bit of exercise you can add to your daily routine is going to help," Neal says. Although don’t think you can simply trade exercise against an unhealthy diet.  ‘’Unless you are prepared to drag a tractor tyre around after you 24 hours a day it’s almost impossible to burn off the excess calories that come from junk foods."

The evidence is very clear.  While more activity is almost always good, it’s not a great way of losing weight.  It’s also possible that increased physical activity may directly protect against the risk of developing diabetes and it certainly helps with diabetes management amongst those that have the condition.

5. If you already have diabetes

All the messages above still apply.  Losing weight, eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of physical activity are fundamental to the good management of diabetes.  However, if you have diabetes you almost certainly also need medical treatment too.  There are some incredibly effective ways of preventing the complications of diabetes with drug therapies and these are a must for most people with the condition.  Alongside drugs to control blood sugar levels, blood pressure lowering and cholesterol lowering are a backbone of treatment for many.  Drug therapy won’t replace a healthy lifestyle but can bring important additional protection. 

Finally, for some people diabetes can be cured.  Massive weight loss, mostly achieved by gastric surgery, can return peoples’ blood sugar levels to normal.  And lesser levels of weight reduction will usually reduce the severity of the condition and bring down the need for drugs to lower blood sugar.

The sights, sounds and tastes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples came to life at The George Institute’s NAIDOC celebration outside the Sydney, Kent Street office. 

The celebrations were held in recognition of Australia’s unique heritage and involved a series of cultural displays including a traditional corroboree by Koomurri Dancers, a bush tucker luncheon and an art exhibition by Aboriginal artist, Chris Moore.

A crowd of nearly 100 people watched the event, with a mix of staff from The George Institute and nearby businesses. Chris Moore opened the day with a traditional acknowledgement in language, and keynote speaker Jake Byrne spoke about the history of NAIDOC and what his own Aboriginal heritage means to his identity.

“Acknowledging and celebrating Australia’s first people is, in my opinion, very important for the whole nation.

For a long time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were on the rough end of public opinion and government policies, and in some cases still are, but NAIDOC week is a chance to bring some balance to that and provides an opportunity for these communities to feel proud and relevant. That’s something everyone should be able to feel.” Mr Byrne said.

NAIDOC Week is held in July each year and is celebrated not just by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities but by Australians from all walks of life. Julieann Coombes, chair of The George Institute’s NAIDOC Celebration Committee, called the event a wonderful display of Aboriginal culture and recognition.

“It’s great to see such a big turn-out, with not only our own staff in attendance but also many of the staff in our building. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health is a major focus area for The George Institute, so it is really encouraging to see how interested people are in our culture.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture is what makes Australia different to the rest of the world, so I always jump at the chance to share it with the rest of the community.

“The George Institute has run several successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs, with the aim of closing the gap in healthcare; programs like Driving Change, Buckle-Up and the Kanyini Vascular Collaboration.”

The event closed with a raffle draw that raised over $600, with the money raised being donated to the Jarjum College in Redfern. Steve Kamper of The George Institute’s Musculoskeletal Division won the prize, an artwork painted by Aboriginal Artist Jason Russell.