Capacity Building In Childhood And Adolescent Obesity Prevention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,080,191.00
Summary
As obesity prevalence in children and adolescents continues to climb, there is an urgent need to build Australia's ability to undertake solutions-orientated research across several fronts. This program covers the four areas of greatest need for building research capacity in obesity prevention.Whole-of-community intervention programs: These evaluate what works and what does not work in the real world of trying to get integrated action at the community level and how to get the maximum uptake by ch ....As obesity prevalence in children and adolescents continues to climb, there is an urgent need to build Australia's ability to undertake solutions-orientated research across several fronts. This program covers the four areas of greatest need for building research capacity in obesity prevention.Whole-of-community intervention programs: These evaluate what works and what does not work in the real world of trying to get integrated action at the community level and how to get the maximum uptake by children and adolescents, their families, schools and other community settings.Assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions: This research combines existing and emerging evidence with new modeling techniques to estimate the costs, population impacts, and cost-effectiveness of a variety of interventions.Socio-cultural contexts for obesity prevention: This research seeks to understand the various attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values relating to food, physical activity and body size perception so that social marketing messages and intervention programs are socially and culturally appropriate and resonate with the variety of communities involved.Analysing policy processes and interventions: Policy changes are important early and powerful drivers of creating environments where the health choices are the easy choices, and the evidence base for such changes in obesity prevention is urgently needed.The four Lead Applicants in the team are all highly experienced researchers across the range of disciplines involved and are already working on a number of combined projects which will provide the research platform for the seven Team Investigators to build their skills. The Team Investigators are at various stages in their research careers and are already contributing to a significant extent. This capacity building grant will substantially boost this critical area of research by developing a team of cross-disciplinary researchers of international standing.Read moreRead less
The Role Of Resiliency In Responding To Bloodborne Viral And Sexually Transmitted Infections In Indigenous Communities
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,833,739.00
Summary
HIV-AIDS has become one of the most important health problems in the world today. Like several other infectious diseases, it is mainly spread by behaviours that most people consider to be part of their private lives, such as sexual intercourse and drug use. In many societies, the search for ways to prevent and treat these infectious has been complicated by the fact that people find them embarrassing to discuss, or fear discrimination if they have them. While surveys of sexually transmitted infec ....HIV-AIDS has become one of the most important health problems in the world today. Like several other infectious diseases, it is mainly spread by behaviours that most people consider to be part of their private lives, such as sexual intercourse and drug use. In many societies, the search for ways to prevent and treat these infectious has been complicated by the fact that people find them embarrassing to discuss, or fear discrimination if they have them. While surveys of sexually transmitted infections have found high rates in some Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, so far only Canada has seen increased rates of HIV-AIDS among Indigenous people. There is much we need to learn about prevention and treatment in Indigenous people. We are therefore proposing to set up collaborative studies in each of the three countries that will explore how Indigenous people are able to protect themselves against these infections. We are especially interested in finding out about their resiliency, the way in which they make use of their own and their communities� strengths to protect themselves and enhance their health and well-being. A good understanding of what resiliency is about will help us discover how Indigenous health programs can help all people in their communities to have the best chance of avoiding these infections, or getting the right kind of care, support and treatment if they do have one or more of these infections. The research will be done in full collaboration with Indigenous communities in every aspect, from planning through to regular reporting of results. The program will provide opportunities for Indigenous people in the three countries to develop and enhance research skills in this important area, and allow non-Indigenous people to share knowledge and experience with Indigenous communities.Read moreRead less
Rehearsals in Colonialism: Tracking Transpacific Expressions of Indigenous and Settler Sovereignty, 1788-1900. In the 1800s a spate of Pacific monarchies declared pre-emptive independence amidst the upheavals of circling imperial interest. Kingdoms in Tonga, Hawai'i, and New Zealand lasted at least a century, but only years in Tahiti, Samoa and Fiji. Nevertheless they epitomised uncertain times when Indigenous and settler peoples alike focussed intensely on the sovereign status of subject people ....Rehearsals in Colonialism: Tracking Transpacific Expressions of Indigenous and Settler Sovereignty, 1788-1900. In the 1800s a spate of Pacific monarchies declared pre-emptive independence amidst the upheavals of circling imperial interest. Kingdoms in Tonga, Hawai'i, and New Zealand lasted at least a century, but only years in Tahiti, Samoa and Fiji. Nevertheless they epitomised uncertain times when Indigenous and settler peoples alike focussed intensely on the sovereign status of subject peoples in subject colonies. This project connects these moments of sovereignty for the first time in a unique opportunity to track the intellectual and social histories of contact in the transcolonial space of the Pacific and its settler colonial rim. Project outcomes will offer new insight into our colonial past and its legacies in the present.Read moreRead less
Before, during and after Lapita: 5000 years of cultural continuity and transformation at Caution Bay, southern Papua New Guinea. Australia's closest Indigenous neighbours in southern Papua New Guinea have long been thought to have been in contact with long-distance seafarers only in the last 2000 years. This project will document recent archaeological findings that are causing a radical rethink of ancestral connections between Australia and southern Papua New Guinea.
New Electronic Archives for Australian Literature. Information capacity in Australian literary studies has been dramatically expanded by national investment in electronic archives, while trends in the discipline increasingly demand empirical support for claims about literary history and literary value. At the same time, research about Australian literature remains primarily theoretical, insufficiently informed by newly available data. This project aims to further enrich the new data sets, and to ....New Electronic Archives for Australian Literature. Information capacity in Australian literary studies has been dramatically expanded by national investment in electronic archives, while trends in the discipline increasingly demand empirical support for claims about literary history and literary value. At the same time, research about Australian literature remains primarily theoretical, insufficiently informed by newly available data. This project aims to further enrich the new data sets, and to use them in an innovative return to the classical issues in Australian literary criticism and history. It will provide demonstration applications of data in new electronic archives.Read moreRead less
Our Island Home: The shifting map of Australian literature. This project will provide the first full-length study of the ways Australia's unique status as an island continent has shaped its national literature. Understanding this relationship will re-define the borders of its literature in three ways: it will establish new connections within the national literature between the literature of the mainland and surrounding islands; it will identify why certain regions such as the continental interio ....Our Island Home: The shifting map of Australian literature. This project will provide the first full-length study of the ways Australia's unique status as an island continent has shaped its national literature. Understanding this relationship will re-define the borders of its literature in three ways: it will establish new connections within the national literature between the literature of the mainland and surrounding islands; it will identify why certain regions such as the continental interior and outlying islands capture the literary imagination at particular times; it will bring to light ways for Australian literature to position itself within the shifting geographies of globalised modernity. Read moreRead less
Developing Youth-centred Health Promotion Strategies To Prevent And Mitigate The Adverse Health Impacts Of Adolescent Pregnancy In Papua New Guinea
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$702,235.00
Summary
Adolescent pregnancy is a major public health concern in Papua New Guinea, the Asia-Pacific region, and other low and middle income countries, with severe health and socio-economic outcomes for young women. This three-year qualitative study will examine the experiences of early pregnancy among young Papua New Guineans (15-24 years). Project outcomes will include the design of youth health services and community-outreach programs to curb the ongoing harm associated with adolescent pregnancy.
Enhancing Clinical Management Of Paediatric Malaria In Endemic Areas With Transmission Of Multiple Plasmodium Species
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$867,511.00
Summary
Malaria remains a major problem for children in developing countries especially where different types of the disease are common. This set of complementary studies, based at an established research site in PNG aims to develop new treatment strategies for childhood malaria. A novel method of giving medicine via a spray under the tongue for sick children before arrival at hospital and modified dosing schedules of an old drug used for treating parasites hidden in the liver will be studied.