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May 27, 2016 at 8:31 AM

Consultation open on first NZ Health Research Strategy

*From the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse*

The Ministry of Health, the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment are leading the development of New Zealand's first health research strategy. The strategy will set a vision for health research over the next 10 years and set out priorities and actions to achieve this.

The government is inviting feedback to inform the strategy. You can provide feedback by commenting on the discussion document or attending a regional consultation meeting. The consultation is open until 29 July 2016. You can find the discussion document and details about giving feedback on the Ministry of Health website.

Violence is mentioned briefly, under the example strategic priority "Unlocking the factors determining health and wellbeing for New Zealanders now and into the future." Alongside other possibilities, it states that funding more research of particular relevance to New Zealand could include:

"public health research that considers New Zealand’s particular environment and social context, including research on family violence, substance abuse and mental health."

It could also include "research with the potential to reduce health inequalities and disparities across New Zealand’s diverse demographic and population groups, paying particular attention to the needs of the Māori and Pacific populations and the disabled population." (p.11)

The other example strategic priorities are:

• Improving investment settings and processes of health research
• Improving connections across the health research and innovation system
• Enhancing the uptake of health research results across the social and health sectors
• Providing research infrastructure and building skills

Biomedical research is a focus, along with the use of large linked data. 

The strategy will take into consideration social policy and be designed to support other government strategic directions including the New Zealand Disability Strategy (currently being developed) and the social investment approach announced in 2015.

The government also announced that funding for health research will increase by $97 million over the next four years.