Singapore: Australia Minister for Health, Ms Tanya Plibersek, announced that $652 million will be provided for 1,141 grants for ground-breaking medical research across Australia.

"Patients depend on continued government investment to keep Australians healthy and reduce the incidence of disease and suffering," said Ms Plibersek. "Because of this investment, medicines are our biggest research-intense goods export, and are helping to build a stronger, more competitive and more productive economy. The Gillard government is proud to be supporting Australia's best and brightest health and medical innovators as they undertake their world-beating research."

Ms Plibersek made the announcement at the University of Sydney, where she toured the laboratory of Professor Karen Waters who received a $990,000 grant to undertake research on young children suffering from sleep apnoea.

"Every parent knows what it's like when children have difficulty sleeping, but having a child with sleep apnoea, who isn't breathing properly at night, is a very serious problem. This important research will look at the relationship between sleep apnoea, which affects about one in 30 children, and intelligence and learning," she added.

The grants are administered by the renowned National Health and Medical Research Council and address research needs, from basic science to research translation and they support researchers and their teams through the early and mid-stages of their careers. Funding announced in Australia comes on top of the $2.83 billion delivered to medical researchers by the Labor government since 2008.