%0 Journal Article
%T Public health and prevention research within the Medical Research Future Fund.
%A Latif BN
%A Coombe L
%A Driscoll T
%A van Zwieten A
%A Sherrington C
%A Khalatbari-Soltani S
%J Aust N Z J Public Health
%V 48
%N 4
%D 2024 Aug 22
%M 39085012
%F 3.755
%R 10.1016/j.anzjph.2024.100171
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>To explore the amount and type of research funded under relevant Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Initiatives that addressed public health and prevention from 2018 to July 2023.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>Projects funded by six MRFF Initiatives, with objectives relevant to public health and public health nominated as "field of research" by >25% of applicants, were evaluated against a set of public health research criteria and were categorised based on levels of prevention.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>Fifty-seven per cent of 249 funded projects were categorised as public health research. Projects with curative features, focusing on tertiary (32%) and quaternary (4%) prevention, were as common as projects with earlier preventive features, focussed on primordial (7%) and primary (28%) prevention. The Preventive and Public Health Research Initiative had the lowest proportion of public health research (48%) of the six evaluated Initiatives and a dominance of curative (39%) and non-preventive (26%) research over preventive research (30%).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>This study highlighted variable levels of public health research across public-health-relevant MRFF Initiatives and generally low proportions of primary and primordial prevention. A greater emphasis on primordial and primary prevention research in public-health-relevant Initiatives could advance prevention in Australia.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>There appears to be scope for improvement in the prioritisation of upstream prevention research in public-health-relevant MRFF Initiatives and projects. Addressing this may enhance the benefit of MRFF to Australian public health.