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Health researchers of New Zealand launch websiteHealth researchers have launched a website (www.heronz.org.nz) to inform their colleagues and the wider scientific community about the current state of health research funding in New Zealand. The group is chaired by Professor Mark Richards, National Heart Foundation Chair of Cardiovascular Studies, and supported by Health Research Council funded programme leaders. It aims for the first time to bring health researchers together under the banner of Health Researchers of New Zealand (HeRoNZ). “Health Researchers are often quite dispersed, in different parts of the country, and this website will allow us to present our views more effectively, “ says Professor Richards, who is head of the Christchurch Cardioendocrine Research Group. “All health researchers throughout the country are invited to register on this site and comment on its content and format in order to build good communication within the health researcher community, so we can establish effective presentation of health researchers views to government and the public.” The primary focus of HeRoNZ is the decline in grant funding from the Health Research Council over the last decade, partly because of full- cost recovery. This has seen the number of new research projects funded by the HRC halved between 1998 and 2003. The drop in research support has resulted in significant attrition of the health research workforce over the same period. Historically the HRC has funded around 60% of health research in the country. The budget on May 27 improved this situation with a $5.5 million increase (12.9%) for health research to $48 million in 2004/5, and a total increase of $22 million over the next four years. But this money still fails to compensate for the attrition of adequate funding over the last decade. “Health research needs a doubling of HRC funds over the next three years to make a real difference, and to put us on a comparable footing to Australia, which has had an increase to a total of $428m for health research in this year’s budget. We still have the lowest expenditure on health research per capita in the developed world. ” Professor Richards says it is important to recognise the vital role of health research funding in the country’s development. One third of New Zealand’s biotech companies started with HRC funded research. Health research is also a key element in improving our health care and the ‘knowledge economy’, but without improved funding talent and expertise risk being lost overseas.
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