Funding for cerebral palsy research in Australia, 2000–2015: an observational study

OBJECTIVES To examine the funding for cerebral palsy (CP) research in Australia, as compared with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). DESIGN Observational study. SETTING For Australia, philanthropic funding from Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation (CPARF) (2005-2015) was compared with National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, 2000-2015) and Australian Research Council (ARC, 2004-2015) and CPARF and NHMRC funding were compared with NIH funding (USA). PARTICIPANTS Cerebral Palsy researchers funded by CPARF, NHMRC or NIH. RESULTS Over 10 years, total CPARF philanthropic funding was $21.9 million, including people, infrastructure, strategic and project support. As competitive grants, CPARF funded $11.1 million, NHMRC funded $53.5 million and Australian Research Council funded $1.5 million. CPARF, NHMRC and NIH funding has increased in real terms, but only the NIH statistically significantly increased in real terms (mean annual increase US$4.9 million per year, 95% CI 3.6 to 6.2, p<0.001). The NHMRC budget allocated to CP research remained steady over time at 0.5%. A network analysis indicated the relatively small number of CP researchers in Australia is mostly connected through CPARF or NHMRC funding. CONCLUSIONS Funding for CP research from the Australian government schemes has stabilised and CP researchers rely on philanthropic funding to fill this gap. In comparison, the NIH is funding a larger number of CP researchers and their funding pattern is consistently increasing.