Engineering a major change in the way officials in Thailand manage their health system is the aim of $3.2 million project to be led by University of Queensland researchers.
As part of a unique collaborative grants scheme between Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom that will see UQ researchers share in almost $10 million of funding, Professor Alan Lopez, head of UQ’s School of Population Health, hopes to improve the scientific basis for providing health services in Thailand.
Professor Lopez, formerly with the World Health Organisation before joining UQ last year, will lead a team that hopes to fill the gaps in knowledge about the causes of disease and the possibility of effectively intervening to reduce them.
The project will also look at how much disease and injury in Thailand is being caused by major risk factors, such as tobacco and unsafe sex and how best to tackle these problems in a Thai context.
UQ is involved in a further three projects aimed at improving health in the Asia-Pacific region, including one led by Professor Ian Frazer from UQ’s Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research at the Princess Alexandra Hospital worth $1.38 million.
Professor Frazer is studying the effectiveness of a vaccine that is designed to prevent tumors and cancers associated with human papillomavirus, the disease that causes one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, genital warts, particularly in China.
Associate Professor Gail Williams, from UQ’s School of Population Health will be working with Professor Don McManus, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, on a $2.46 million project looking at the control and prevention of schistosomiasis, a debilitating disease that affects 40 million Chinese.
The project will focus on sharing research and training between Australia and China to help control the disease, which is caused by a water-borne parasite.
And Dr Chris Bain, from UQ’s School of Population Health, will be part of a study involved in mapping the changing pattern of disease in Thailand over the past half century and beyond.
Announcing the International Collaborative Grants Scheme (ICGS) projects last week, Federal Health Minister Senator Kay Patterson said the innovative scheme was an exciting venture which could have benefits worldwide and would harness the significant scientific talent that exists in Australia, New Zealand and a range of countries in our region.
The ICGS is funded jointly by the UK-based Wellcome Trust, Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council and Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Media: For more information contact Andrew Dunne at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2802).
