The Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney will receive $2.5 million over 5 years for the establishment of a new centre for Stronger Investments for Infectious Diseases (STRIDE), an innovative centre that will use innovative health economics techniques to comprehensively assess the significant health, social and economic impacts of infectious disease interventions.
The funding, announced today by Minister for Health, the Hon. Mark Butler MP, is part of the NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence (CRE) scheme.
“STRIDE will be Australia’s first dynamic hub for applied and policy-relevant research on the economics of infectious disease interventions. STRIDE will provide the framework, enhanced capacity among researchers and policymakers, and robust evidence needed to comprehensively assess the full impacts of infectious disease interventions,” says project lead, Professor Virginia Wiseman from the Kirby Institute.
At the end of the 5-year funding period, STRIDE will have provided key evidence for making equitable and efficient investments for infectious diseases, ensuring that Australia and countries in the region are better placed to assess interventions for current and emerging infectious disease threats.
“This funding will help ensure that public health funding is channelled into effective, equitable and cost-effective interventions, ones which will ultimately save more lives by making the most of available resources,” says Prof Wiseman.
Other STRIDE chief investigators are Professor Rebecca Guy, Professor John Kaldor and Dr Richard Gray from Kirby Institute; Professor Barbara McPake from Director Nossal Institute, University of Melbourne; Associate Professor Jason Ong from Central Clinical School, Monash University; Professor Guy Marks from Woolcock Institute, UNSW; Dr Weifeng Larry Liu from Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Australian National University; Professor Karen Canfell from the Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW; and Associate Professor Anthony Newall from School of Population Health, UNSW.