CEPAR Chief Investigator Robert Cumming, Professor of Epidemiology and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Sydney node, is one of a team of Investigators to receive government funding to tackle the rising challenge of Indigenous dementia.
The research project “Our MOB (Mind Our Brain): Dementia prevention across the life course with Aboriginal Australians” has received over $3 million funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The project is led by UNSW researcher Dr Kylie Radford and will run over 5 years. The research team engages with partner Aboriginal communities and organisations in New South Wales to investigate causes of dementia in Aboriginal Australians; to translate these findings into implementation of a healthy ageing program that has been co-developed with older Aboriginal people, and to identify priorities and strategies for future dementia prevention in young Aboriginal people.
“Projects like this are fundamental to our commitment to work with First Peoples to Close the Gap in health equality,” said Aged Care Minister and Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt.
“Our senior First Nations people can experience dementia at more than three times the rate of other Australians, with earlier onset,” he said.
“This work is crucial because our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders are our living libraries and losing each individual means a precious book of knowledge is lost forever,” said Minister Wyatt.
At present, an estimated 425,000 Australians are living with dementia. Without a medical breakthrough, this number is expected to increase to more than one million by 2050.