The Hon Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
To help support Australians living with and recovering from a traumatic brain injury, the Morrison Government is launching the latest round of the traumatic brain injury grants, which opens today.
Medical research is our best hope of discovering better diagnosis and treatments to help Australians with brain injuries and this $4 million grant opportunity will boost research in this field.
The funding will support research projects to improve care for people with a traumatic brain injury as well as prevent and treat sports-related concussion.
More than 700,000 Australians have a brain injury, which can limit and restrict participation in daily life.
Three in every four people in Australia with brain injuries are aged under 65.
As many as two out of every three acquired their brain injury before the age of 25. Three-quarters of people with a brain injury are men.
Traumatic brain injury can be caused by an accident or trauma, a stroke, a brain infection, alcohol or other drug abuse, or by diseases of the brain like Parkinson's disease.
The grants will be available in two streams.
- Stream 1 funding is worth up to $3 million over 3 years for a national consortium to identify ways to improve care for mild traumatic brain injury.
- Stream 2 funding is worth up to $1 million over 3 years to develop and implement new approaches for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sports-related concussion.
This funding is part of the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission.
The Mission, a research funding program under the Australian Government's $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund, is investing $50 million over 10 years from 2019-20 to improve the lives of patients with traumatic brain injury.
The goal of the Mission is to better predict recovery outcomes after a traumatic brain injury, identify the most effective care and treatments and reduce barriers to support people to live their best possible life.
The Government also welcomes the release today of the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission Roadmap and Implementation Plan.
Developed by the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission Expert Working Group, led by Professor Melinda Fitzgerald, the Roadmap and Implementation Plan will guide the research investment strategy for the Mission to help achieve its goal.
The Government thanks Professor Fitzgerald and the Expert Working Group.
The roadmap and implementation plan, along with more information about the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission, including the Expert Working Group, international review and national consultation can be found by following this link to the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission | Australian Government Department of Health
