$2.5M health research centres launched

The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) at The Australian National University has established three $2.5 million Centres of Excellence to undertake research focused on key health reform challenges. The multi-institutional centres will be funded for four years to coordinate innovative, high quality and multidisciplinary research in primary health care policy and system improvement. The Centres of Excellence will conduct research in: - ;  accessible and equitable primary health care service provision in rural and remote Australia; - ;  building quality, governance, performance and sustainability in primary health care, and - ;  Indigenous primary health care intervention in chronic disease. APHCRI Director Robert Wells said the centres would tackle difficult and topical questions involved in health reform to provide vital information for policymakers. He added that while there would be a strong emphasis on producing excellent research, each centre would also build capacity in primary health care research. 'These centres will bring together Australian and international research leaders in their field with emerging researchers, including postdoctoral fellows and PhD students,' he said. 'We expect that the evidence produced by these centres will help inform and shape policies to improve primary health care services to meet the needs of Australians, particularly those most in need.' APHCRI is supported by a grant from the Commonwealth Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy.