Show me the money!
June 12th 2008 10:07
Australia is becoming a healthier nation with a very high life expectancy, only second to that of Japan! Continued investment in medical research and development is critical for both our health and our economy. Australian researchers have been described as “punching well above their weight”, meaning that the global financial gain in wellbeing is well above what we invest in Australian R & D. Relative to the GDP, the UK, US, Germany, France, Denmark and Canada all invest more than us in medical R & D, so this is not an unreasonable request.
Not surprisingly, it can be money well spent. For example, by decreasing the incidence of Alzheimer's disease by just 5% through Australian R & D, this would result in savings around $10 billion by 2050, and the development of the Gardasil vaccine expects to have returns in terms of wellbeing of around 2.5:1. Therefore in addition to the obvious health benefits, increasing R & D investment would be highly beneficial economically.
Not only does too tight a budget restrict research in terms of total output, but it also means that scientists aren't as keen to take chances on high risk projects which have the potential to be big hitters. In other words, the constant seeking of funding encourages conservative thinking. So in a time when our government budget surplus is close to $22 billion, let's start putting some of that money to areas where it will benefit not only us, but the world.
Not surprisingly, it can be money well spent. For example, by decreasing the incidence of Alzheimer's disease by just 5% through Australian R & D, this would result in savings around $10 billion by 2050, and the development of the Gardasil vaccine expects to have returns in terms of wellbeing of around 2.5:1. Therefore in addition to the obvious health benefits, increasing R & D investment would be highly beneficial economically.
Not only does too tight a budget restrict research in terms of total output, but it also means that scientists aren't as keen to take chances on high risk projects which have the potential to be big hitters. In other words, the constant seeking of funding encourages conservative thinking. So in a time when our government budget surplus is close to $22 billion, let's start putting some of that money to areas where it will benefit not only us, but the world.
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Comment by Tyronne
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