New Zealand has plenty of "enthusiastic, talented and visionary" experts researching children's health issues, but the field is dangerously under-funded, a leading paediatric geneticist says.
"The brilliant ideas keep coming, but we are facing an emergency in child health and there is an urgent need to increase our investment into research," says Professor Stephen Robertson of the University of Otago.
He says New Zealand spends proportionately less on health research than other countries with similar standards of living, a "deficit" laid bare in a recent UNICEF report which ranked the health and well-being of Kiwi children 38th out of 41 developed countries.
"We have, for example, startling rates of respiratory diseases among our children," he says. "Kiwi kids deserve to be healthy and the need for new research to enable scientific innovation and discoveries that can both prevent and cure diseases, is greater than ever."
Robertson, who is also the Cure Kids Professorial Chair at Otago University in Dunedin and chair of the child health charity's Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee, was speaking as Cure Kids is assessing a record 41 applications for research grants received in its latest Innovation and Discovery funding round.
Cure Kids - the largest dedicated charitable funder of children's health research in New Zealand - every year accepts applications from researchers and medical professionals for a share of a $1 million pool raised through donations from generous Kiwis. Annually, around nine projects receive grants of up to $110,000 each.
Robertson says while there is much talk about what is being done to improve child health "the investment (put into it) doesn't reflect that. Frankly, it is time we walked the walk."
As well as respiratory diseases like asthma (it afflicts 110,000 or one in seven Kiwi children) , he says rheumatic fever is also a big problem. "It's supposed to be a disease found only in the developing world but it continues to knock many of our young."
Cure Kids State of Child Health Report released in June 2022 found that respiratory conditions are the leading cause of acute hospital admissions for Kiwi children while admissions for children with acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease have remained high over the past 20 years, despite efforts to reduce them.
The burden is particularly severe for Pasifika children, who were admitted to hospital for rheumatic fever 140 times more often than children of "European or other" ethnicities.
This year Cure Kids has received 41 applications for grants, the most in a single year since the charity began in 1971. Robertson says the charity has an impressive track record of funding research leading to major medical discoveries which have saved, extended and improved the lives of many thousands of New Zealand kids.
Some of these include Professor Ed Mitchell's research throughout the 1990s into sudden unexpected death in infancy which led to advice on safe-sleep environments. It has been used to prevent 200 deaths in New Zealand every year since - and many more around the world.
In 1978, Professor Bob Elliott (one of the founders of Cure Kids) achieved a major breakthrough for the treatment of cystic fibrosis when he developed a test to easily and quickly screen all newborn babies and enable treatment before irreversible scarring of the lungs occurred.
And in 2015, Professor Cameron Grant proved that vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and infancy prevents doctor visits for acute respiratory infections in early childhood.
Robertson says the advisory committee will meet to evaluate the applications in early December. Its recommendations will go to the Cure Kids board the next day and the successful applicants notified before Christmas.
Made up of 10 experienced academics and healthcare professionals, the committee assesses all proposals and selects those with the greatest potential for impact and which demonstrate scientific excellence.
It also looks for the best research team, the best science - and the ability of proposals to deliver Vision Mātauranga (research into health and wellbeing for Māori children and incorporating Māori collaborators, language, skills, knowledge, and practices).
A shortlist (about half of those submitted), is sent to at least three independent experts, in New Zealand or internationally. This process of scientific "peer review" means that every application is assessed by multiple subject-matter experts, all of whom volunteer their time, knowledge and experience.
All shortlisted applications are re-assessed by the committee, including the feedback from the independent reviews, before it recommends which projects should be funded.
Cure Kids CEO Frances Benge says the Innovation and Discovery Round is open to all researchers and medical professionals throughout New Zealand. She says the process of selection ensures every donor dollar is invested wisely.
"Because the New Zealand government spends proportionately less on health research than other countries (such as Australia, Canada, Sweden and the United States), Cure Kids works hard to meet the need for funding," she says.
"Cure Kids relies on the ongoing support of New Zealanders to continue its support for future research projects which have the potential to make a real difference to children's lives long into the future. Without this vital research, these big breakthroughs don't happen."
To donate to Cure Kids go to: curekids.org.nz