Two of the largest studies of their kind in Australia have a bold vision to come together to transform the health and wellbeing of children now and for future generations.
GenV, tracking the health of almost 125,000 Victorians (49,311 children and 74,409 parents/guardians), and ORIGINS, following 10,000 children and their families in WA, will pool their resources to create Generation Australia.
By unlocking the full potential of both studies, Generation Australia presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to map and make a long-lasting difference to the health of all Australians from birth to old age. The national platform will help provide answers to complex physical and mental health issues such as asthma, food allergies, obesity and anxiety.
Generation Australia is spearheaded by Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne and The Kids Research Institute Australia (The Kids) in Perth, Australia's two largest child health research institutes.
GenV Director and MCRI Professor Melissa Wake said the groundbreaking project would help researchers to test and fast-track solutions at scale and save taxpayer dollars and reduce healthcare costs.
"Being the two longitudinal child and family cohort studies with the most comprehensive depth and scale in Australia, they have the unique capability of testing interventions at scale," she said. Importantly, with the results representing our whole population, the findings can be tailored to everyone."
Image: Professor Melissa Wake
"This will accelerate more efficient research of global importance to discover new treatments, reduce service delivery costs, and tailor rapid care for children and adults to create better and more equitable health, development and wellbeing outcomes.
"The project will also save costs to families, especially those with a sick child, by halting or preventing disease and addressing long wait lists for early childhood services."
Some of the child health issues Generation Australia will tackle include:
- Hearing loss: Making congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) screening routine to detect and treat the most common infectious cause of newborn disability
- Heart health: Creating an Australian-first comprehensive suite of interventions to halt the rise in heart disease and obesity
- Impact of droughts, floods and heatwaves: Modifying environments, homes and schools to keep children learning and families thriving through challenging climate events
- Mental health: Testing a low-cost digital counselling solution to help treat the one in five parents with anxiety or depression, at any time and place.
- Congenital hip dysplasia: Creating a registry that could avert the need for hip replacements in young adults
- ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy: Using a parent-captured video app and AI for earlier diagnosis and to test new treatments
- Delivering personalised treatments resulting in fewer emergency department visits
Professor Wake said, for the first time in generations, today's children may have poorer health outcomes than their parents, unless something changed.
"Generation Australia is designed not just to watch but to fix," she said. We will discover new strategies to help all children and adults to thrive, prevent illness, and manage today's complex, interconnected and emerging challenges."
GenV Deputy Scientific Director and MCRI Professor Sharon Goldfeld said Generation Australia was needed as the current pace of research was too slow to keep up with the modern health and social challenges for Australia's children and their families.
"The current policy environment offers real opportunities for benefit, but we need to know what works for which families and under what circumstances, or we just risk increasing inequality," she said.
Image: Professor Sharon Goldfeld
ORIGINS Co-Director Professor Desiree Silva said interventional longitudinal studies presented a unique opportunity to provide real time feedback, ensuring participating families were referred to appropriate care and support.
"Without early intervention, children may spend years living under umbrella terms like difficult sleepers, fussy eaters, hyperactive and having poor emotional control, when in reality these often represent diagnosable and treatable issues that could greatly improve a child's likelihood of flourishing throughout their life," she said.
Professor Silva said Generation Australia also provided an opportunity for researchers to leverage both studies' existing data, creating nested sub-projects that participants could also engage in.
"ORIGINS has over 50 current and completed sub-projects, ranging from research into the roots of asthma to perinatal mental health, which our 10,000 families have embraced being a part of."
Children born between October 4, 2021 to October 3, 2023, who live in Victoria, can join GenV at any time, along with their parents. Eligibility also includes families who have moved to Victoria.
