Research funding woefully inadequate

Mental Health and Addictions Report: research funding woefully inadequate

December 5, 2018

Health research advocate, New Zealanders for Health Research (NZHR), welcomes the Mental Health and Addictions report but says that research funding is woefully inadequate.

NZHR Chief Executive, Chris Higgins, said that according to the report public spending on mental health and addiction services in the last year amounted to $1.4b

“The report also indicates that the Health Research Council had allocated an average of $7m per year to mental health and addiction research over the past twelve years, or half of one percent of service costs” said Mr Higgins.

“Given that the government has established an overall R&D investment target of 2% of GDP the amount it spends on mental health and addiction research is woefully inadequate and should be quadrupled at the very least”.

Mr Higgins said that the report itself presents a well-researched and thorough analysis of the current state of mental health and mental health and addiction services in New Zealand, and that the recommendations represent a comprehensive response to the report’s findings.

“However most of the recommendations lack a clearly researched evidential base which demonstrate that they will result in better mental health outcomes”.

“This is probably because the research simply isn’t available either internationally or here in New Zealand, which underscores the imperative for New Zealand’s research investment levels to be significantly lifted” said Mr Higgins.

NZHR is a member funded advocacy organisation pressing for increased investment in health research from government, industry and philanthropy, and is chaired by Graham Malaghan, of the Wellington-based Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.

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