$5.7 million in research grants has been awarded to four projects aiming to foster research partnerships between institutions in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region and improve health outcomes for chronic conditions.
 
The collaborative projects, funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council through the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, will enable knowledge-sharing and capacity building for better health and wellbeing outcomes.

The George Institute for Global Health, led by non-communicable diseases expert Dr Bindu Patel, will evaluate the impact and sustainability of the Health Promoting Schools programme in Fiji, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of students.
 
Data gathered from this research will inform individual schools and government of areas for improvement and facilitate wider implementation of the programme.

In the three other projects funded Professor Brian Oldenburg from Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute will evaluate a lifestyle change programme with young people from Meghalaya in north-eastern India, where many Indigenous people from the Khasi tribe live, to reduce the development of heart disease and diabetes; Professor David Peiris from The George Institute for Global Health will investigate scalable strategies to enhance resilience and reduce non-communicable disease risk factors for young people living in resource-limited settings in India and elsewhere; and Associate Professor Abdullah Mamun from The University of Queensland will improve primary healthcare in antenatal and postnatal settings and support risk prevention of non-communicable diseases early in life for people in Nepal.