Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Funds for research into rural health

A $3.5-million package of 64 research and health promotion projects is aimed at improving the health of rural Victorians.

The package tackles five areas of rural health, with a special emphasis on improving and maintaining a strong rural health work force.

The other four areas are:

• Rural illness prevention through health promotion.
• Community safety and urgent care
• Rural access to health services
• How to use communications and information technology in rural areas.

The packages range from a $950,000 grant for Melbourne University’s Shepparton-based Department of Rural Health to research why certain illnesses have a greater incidence in rural areas, to $2000 for a major rural public health forum to be held in the Loddon Mallee area.

The projects aim to give rural people the information they need to maintain good health — through both traditional and new media — and to make those services more accessible in country areas, primarily through attracting and retaining quality staff.

The research and project grants were made available following research that showed that rural Victorians have historically suffered from poorer health in a number of areas.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Health, April 21, 1999)