NHMRC Partnership Project grant for Professor Sharon Goldfeld
05/03/2025
A Murdoch Children’s Research Institute project been awarded federal funding to help policy makers and communities address child health and developmental inequities in Australia.
Professor Sharon Goldfeld and her collaborators have received a $493,000 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Partnership Project grant which will use cutting-edge analytic approaches to determine the most appropriate policy related health or education interventions to be delivered to disadvantaged children and families during the early years of development.
Leveraging data from a range of existing data sources in Australia and internationally, including MCRI’s Generation Victoria (GenV), this grant will demonstrate the impact of offering combined social, health and education services to those in need.
About one in five Australian children start school developmentally vulnerable, without the experiences or environments they need for healthy development.
Professor Goldfeld said disadvantage was a preventable health challenge that could be addressed immediately if existing services and programs were delivered equitably, fairly, and in a timely, appropriate way.
“Those who start behind are at risk of staying behind, and are also at greater risk of having health, social and emotional problems in adulthood,” she said. But offering Australian families high-quality social, health and education services and policies from the antenatal period through to the early school years can help break cycles of disadvantage.”
Professor Goldfeld said the approach required ‘stacking’ (or combining) a range of complementary interventions including public health, education, social or health services strategies, particularly those targeting the early years, which are critical for a child’s growth and development.
“Our research draws on robust existing Australian and international data sources and recent scientific advances, which show how this innovative solution could be implemented into government policy to enable real change for children and families.
“We aim to generate evidence on the potential impacts of intervention stacking on social determinants such as healthcare access, literacy, income and education that could be improved to promote equity in children’s health and development.”
Professor Goldfeld said the project would help equip policy makers and communities with the knowledge needed to choose the right ‘stack’ of interventions for any given population of children.
The research will be co-designed with policy makers, service providers and consumers with lived experience. Partner organisations include the Australian Government Department of Social Services, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Beyond Blue, Australian Government Department of Education, Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, Department of Health Victoria, Victorian Council of Social Services and The Australian Government Treasury.
