Researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have been awarded more than $11 million to support vital child health projects, under the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund.
The projects include community-led research improving treatments for rheumatic heart disease (RHD), an investigation into the effectiveness of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates and a major national expansion of a program to improve physical activity levels of children at childcare centres.
Associate Professor Laurens Manning, Head of Strep A and ARF Therapeutics at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases based at The Kids Research Institute Australia and an Associate Professor at The University of Western Australia’s Medical School, has received $1 million to improve the current, outdated treatment model for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with RHD.
Currently, patients with RHD undergo extremely painful but life-saving penicillin injections every month for a minimum of ten years to prevent fatal damage to the heart.
“This has been the standard treatment for the past 70 years but has proven to be ineffective, as most patients do not complete their prescribed therapy due to difficulties with the inflexibility of the timing, discomfort from the particularly painful intramuscular injections and access to healthcare facilities,” said Associate Professor Manning.
The project – Co-led by The Kids Research Institute Australia’s Director of First Nations Strategy and Leadership, Associate Professor Glenn Pearson - aims to bring more choice and flexibility into RHD treatment and will allow Aboriginal communities to guide researchers on what will work best for people receiving the injections, as well as what implementation should look like.
The Kids Research Institute Australia and UWA researchers will be partnering with the WA State Health Department and Aboriginal Health Organisations to ensure the project is community-led and puts people living with RHD front and centre.
Associate Professor Anthony Kicic, from the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre – a powerhouse partnership between The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and Perth Children’s Hospital - and the Curtin School of Population Health, will lead a $1.9 million trial to test the effectiveness of phage therapy for treating antibiotic resistant lung infections in humans.
Phages are viruses found in the environment, such as waterways and soil, that can kill bacteria that commonly develop a resistance to antibiotics.
Associate Professor Kicic said this trial will be the first of its kind in the world.
“Excitingly, ethics approval for the national implementation of compassionate use of phages has been granted. This means that patients experiencing chronic, recurrent lung infections no longer responding well to antibiotic treatment can now trial phage therapy as a treatment option,” he said.
The trial will be carried out in partnership with The Kids Research Institute Australia, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, University of Sydney, Curtin University, and the Institute for Respiratory Health.
Associate Professor Hayley Christian will lead a team that has been awarded $1.7 million to expand the successful Play Active project, which seeks to improve physical activity levels of children at childcare centres.
The expansion will see the WA pilot program roll out nationally, giving childcare centres and educators the resources they need to make sure kids are active throughout the day.
“Play Active provides services with clear, evidence-informed guidance on the amount of physical activity, screen and sedentary time children should have whilst attending early childhood education and childcare,” Associate Professor Christian said.
“It also provides training and resources to support educators turn the Play Active policy into action. By providing children with many energetic play opportunities through the day, it boosts their physical activity levels enabling happy healthy kids.”
The project is led by The Kids in collaboration with UWA, The University of Queensland, and the University of South Australia, in partnership with a host of organisations including Cancer Council WA, YMCA WA, Australian Childcare Alliance WA, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Goodstart Early Learning and Early Childhood Australia.
A project led by Dr Pamela Laird has been awarded $1.97 million to develop a strategy for better follow-up of First Nations children after they’ve been hospitalised for respiratory infections, in a bid to halt the slide into more severe lung disease.
Australian First Nations children have the world’s highest reported rates of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs), experiencing higher hospitalisation rates and more severe disease than other Australian children.
Over the next four years Dr Laird, who is a researcher with the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre and a physiotherapist with Perth Children’s Hospital, will lead a team of researchers to develop and trial an effective, culturally secure follow-up strategy.
The group will work with partner organisations from Queensland and from the Kimberley and Pilbara regions in Western Australia, including Aboriginal medical services that support remote-living First Nations communities.
“Through this trial we hope to increase families’ respiratory health knowledge and medical follow-up rates, improve discharge processes, and help clinicians better manage these conditions in primary care and hospital settings,” Dr Laird said.
Professor Chris Blyth, Director of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at The Kids Research Institute Australia, is a Chief Investigator on an almost $5 million grant awarded to Associate Professor Katie Attwell, from The University of Western Australia’s School of Social Sciences’ VaxPolLab, which will explore the impact of government COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The project will gather and use data on COVID vaccine mandates and collaborate with decision makers to guide policy for future COVID waves and vaccines, future pandemic preparedness, and routine adult and childhood immunisation programs.
The Medical Research Future Fund grants were announced by Minister Mark Butler. Read the Minister’s media release here.