The Minister for Health and Aged Care asked the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport to conduct an inquiry into Diabetes in Australia. Research Australia’s submission highlights the failure of the most recent National Diabetes Strategy to develop useful measures of progress and the absence of funding for the proposed research agenda, or any mechanism or structure to implement it.
This is an issue that has arisen consistently with recent health agendas and plans (e.g. dementia, primary care) that propose a research agenda as part of the plan but have no funding and no means of implementing it. Research Australia has proposed the Inquiry consider a role for the Australian Centre for Disease Control in the application of research to chronic diseases.
Research Australia’s submission is available here.
The Committee published its report on 4 July 2024, available here. Among its recommendations are that the Government involve the Australian Centre for Disease Control in managing research priorities for diabetes and increase diabetes research funding.