Dementia Action Plan needs new funding for research

The Australian Government’s draft Dementia Action Plan has recognised the importance of more research to improving the lives of those living with dementia, their family and carers but has not proposed any actions that will lead to more research being funded.

Research Australia’s submission has addressed this shortfall, and proposed the draft Dementia Research Strategy draw on the work undertaken by the now defunct NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research. We have also recommended the proposed Australian Dementia Research Strategy be an ‘Australian Dementia Research, Innovation and Implementation Strategy’ to better meet the Action Plan’s objective of maximising the impact of research and innovation. Accountability for implementation of research outcomes and the funding of this activity needs to be clearly assigned by the Action Plan and the Strategy.

Research Australia’s submission is available here.

Social Impact Investing for better health

Research Australia’s submission to Treasury in response to the discussion paper on Social Impact Investing has advocated that interventions designed to improve health outcomes be explicitly acknowledged as within the scope of the proposed social investing framework.

Research Australia believes that Social Impact Investing could be an effective mechanism for funding and evaluating some pilot projects and clinical trials designed to implement and evaluate new evidence based practices and interventions. The benefits of implementing successful new interventions include better population health, improved patient care, and efficiency gains in the Australian healthcare system. These provide quantifiable social and financial gains that make the funding of these measures amenable to Social Impact Investing.

Research Australia Submission Social Impact Investing