Background: In 2016, the most disadvantaged groups of Australians died at twice the rate of those in the least disadvantaged groups (AIHW 2016). To reduce inequities, health research must better cater to the needs of Australia’s most disadvantaged populations, but thus far there have been no investigations into whether projects funded by the NHMRC complement the primary health concerns of disadvantaged groups.
Aim: To identify the health concerns of key disadvantaged populations and investigate the portion of NHMRC funding invested into projects addressing these concerns.
Method: Self-reported health concerns were collected from the literature for five disadvantaged groups in Australia: low-socioeconomic status, rural and remote, people with disabilities, older Australians, and prisoners. NHMRC project grant databases (2012 – 2017) were searched and projects were identified which matched the collected health concerns of the disadvantaged groups.
Results: The most frequently reported health concerns included lack of available information about health issues and health services, lack of service availability, and disrespectful treatment by health professionals. Of $2,520,000,000 estimated to be spent by the NHMRC, only 0.26% was directed towards addressing the identified health concerns of the five disadvantaged groups.
Conclusions: Project grants from the NHMRC address some of the self-reported health concerns of disadvantaged groups, but the amount is a small percentage of overall project grants. To improve the health of disadvantaged groups, a more systematic approach to identifying health concerns of Australians should be undertaken and correlated with national research funding.