Local families urged to join GenV research project
Local families with a newborn baby can join an innovative research project to help solve problems like asthma, food allergies, obesity and mental illness.
The largest ever study on mothers and newborns kicked off in Warragul recently as West Gippsland Healthcare Group (WGHG) joined the Generation Victoria (GenV) project.
GenV has a simple goal: a better approach to child and adult health and wellbeing.
The first project of its kind in Australia, all Victoria birthing hospitals will be partnered and every family with a newborn baby will be offered the chance to join up over a two-year period, no matter where they live.
WGHG director of clinical nursing Trish O’Kelly welcomed the research project to involve families in West Gippsland.
“GenV will provide the opportunity to treat and prevent common and complex conditions for our community into the future,” she said.
GenV scientific director and paediatrician Professor Melissa Wake said, by 2035, GenV’s vision was to have helped create a happier and healthier future for many children and parents.
“Over the next two years, around 150,000 children born in Victoria and their parents will have the opportunity to participate in the project,” she said. “Put simply, by signing up to be a part of the GenV generation, parents will help to create a healthier future for all children and their families.”
Professor Wake said large whole-of-state research projects such as GenV could speed up answers to the major issues facing children and adults, today and for their futures.
“GenV truly is a collaborative study and a partnership of many. We are profoundly grateful to the team at West Gippsland Healthcare Group for partnering with us.
“By involving children and families in this once-in-a-generation initiative, GenV can help solve pressing problems like asthma, food allergies, obesity, and mental illness.
“In addition, we are seeking to address the inequities that face so many children and fam
ilies across Victoria. Because GenV will be in every community, it may be especially helpful to the most vulnerable individuals and communities in our state.”
GenV is led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, is supported by the Royal Children’s Hospital and University of Melbourne and is funded by Paul Ramsay Foundation, state government and Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
For further information, visit genv.org.au.