Grants made for child health

Press, 24 June 1978, Page 24

Grants made for child health

The Child Health Research I Foundation’s commitment to ;! research is emphasised in its! latest grants allocation, 84' per cent of which goes' directly to research projects. | Grants-in-aid for specific! projects have accounted for’ a large proportion of pre-i ! vious fund distributions by! the foundation, but this type! of grant is now being scaled; down in favour of research’ and educational grants. Although four of the tat ! est 12 grants are grants-in-i aid, they account for only) $2BBO of the $44,832 com-' mitted. A total of $37,652; will go directly to research. The rest will finance overseas travel and visits by I overseas lecturers in child health. In addition to these, grants, the foundation has 1 extended by $lBOO a pre-: vious grant to Dr I. Lyon, of the Auckland Medical School, to enable him to continue his important investigation of the screening of newborn babies for hypothyroidism, a disease which causes mental retardation that can be avoided with early diagnosis. The latest grants, an-

inounced by the foundation’s president (Sir Rochford Hughes) take the total to I more than $450,000. Some 88 i organisations and individuals have now been able to beneI fit New Zealand children | with the foundation’s help. , ! The foundation decided to ; j scale down grants-in-aid oeI cause at its previous rate of I granting it would have faced ; financial problems within’! ithree to five years. I; j Liberal interpretations of! (“child health care” have left i the foundation funding a bewildering array of activities! lin areas where demands) |seem insatiable. The establishment of a set! lof funding priorities reaffirms the original concept of ; the Child Health Research Foundation as a research oriented body. Its research chair in child health at I Auckland University School :of Medicine remains the first funding priority, followed by research fellow-! ships and projects, support; of visiting lecturers, over-! seas travel and professional! and public educational activ-) ities. The foundation will now! ; call annually for appli-! cations for grants-imaid of) projects.

New applications for grants in all categories will ; be considered by the foundation later this year. The 12 latest grants are: Research Grants: Dr J. C I Kirkland, Massey University, department of education, $3508 for a New Zealand child health research bibliography covering the period 1970 to 1976; Mr K. ’J. Brown, Auckland University. pediatrics department, ! $2OOO for the study of a (treatment agent for phenylj ketonuria (a disease which ’causes mental retardation); )Drs M, B. Starling and J. M. ; Neutze of the departments of pediatrics and cardiology at Auckland Univerity and) Greenlane Hospital, $12,154! for research into the control) of pulmonary hypertension ’ in newborn babies with prostaglandins (respiratory problems in newborn babies); Professor R. B. Elliott, chair of child health at ; Auckland University, $19,990 !for a two-year study of [young diabetics. ! Travel Grant: Mr R. H.i iTatchell, department of special education at Christ- ! church Teachers’ College, ’slooo to enable him to study ’speech therapy in the United I States, where he is now ’

working under a Rotary grant, and in Britain. Sponsorship of Visiting Lecturers: Pediatric Society of New Zealand, Wellington, $2OO for a visit by Professor C. Eric Stroud, of King’s College Hospital Medical Schoo] at the University of London; the centre for continuing education, Auckland University, $3OO to bring New Zealand-based lecturers to a course on the needs and rights of children; Wellington Association for Deaf Children, $lOOO for a visit by Mrs Freddy Bloom, author and founder of the National Deaf Children’s Society in Britain. ' Grants in Aid: Toy Lib- ) rary Association of WellingI ton, $3OO for the purchase of ’ toys for handicapped children; Christchurch Foster Care Association, $550 to bring to New Zealand Dr John Triseloitis as a research consultant: New Zealand Haemophilia Society, Auckland, $5OO to fund a summer camp for haemophiI liac children and their families; University of Waikato, Hamilton, $1530 to fund the making of tape-slide and videotape programmes to help parents and professionals with handicapped children.