Australian Rotary Health (ARH) is a national, not-for-profit organisation which funds health research and provides community education about health in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The organisation supports work on a broad range of health problems, but specialises in mental health. It is supported by Australian

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History

ARH was founded by Ian Scott, a member of the Rotary Club of

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.Henningham, P. (2011). With Health in Mind: The Story of Australian Rotary Health. Parramatta: Australian Rotary Health. In 1981, Scott was so moved by the impact of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) on families that he resolved to set up a fund to support research on this and other family health problems. This resulted in the establishment of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund (later called ARH) with

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as the inaugural chair of the board. The Fund offered its first research grants in 1985. The Fund initially supported research on sudden infant death syndrome, including a project which showed that prone sleeping position of the infant was a major risk factor. An information campaign following this research led to a rapid fall in the deaths from SIDS in Australia.Jorm, A.F., Sawyer, M.G. & Gillett, J. (2011). Celebrating 30 years of Australian Rotary Health. Medical Journal of Australia, 194, 279-280. Subsequently, the Fund supported a number of areas of research, including environmental health problems of the aged, adolescent health and family health. From 2000, it began to specialise in support for mental illness research in recognition of the adverse effects that mental illness had on the health and wellbeing of children, youth and adults in Australia.Jorm, A.F., Sawyer, M.G. & Gillett, J. (2012). Australian Rotary Health: a major contributor to mental illness research and mental health awareness in Australia. Australasian Psychiatry, in press. ARH is currently the largest non-government funder of research in this area in Australia. In 2009, the name was changed from the ''Australian Rotary Health Research Fund'' to ''Australian Rotary Health'' because the organisation had broadened its scope to include community mental health awareness and education activities, in addition to support for research.

Support for research

ARH currently provides a number of types of support for mental illness research, including project grants, PhD scholarships and Post-doctoral Fellowships. In addition, it supports research into a wide range of other health problems with Funding Partner Grants, which involve Rotary Clubs raising money for a specific project and ARH providing matching support. ARH also supports students training as health professionals with Indigenous Health Scholarships, Rural Medical Scholarships and Rural Nursing Scholarships. In addition to the important research on SIDS, ARH has provided funding for a number of projects that have had a practical impact on Australia or have received awards for their importance. These include projects on: nutrition and mental health,

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added to

psychostimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those that increase activity of the central nervous system and the body, drugs that are pleasurable and inv ...

medication for hyperactive and aggressive children, e-therapy for

anxiety disorder Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal function are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause physi ...

s, media reporting of

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

and

mental health first aid Mental health first aid is a training program that teaches members of the public how to help a person developing a mental health problem (including a substance misuse problem), experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem or in a ...

guidelines.

Community awareness and education activities

ARH has broadened its activities to include many community awareness and education activities, particularly in the mental health area. They have included Community Mental Health Forums,

Mental Health First Aid Mental health first aid is a training program that teaches members of the public how to help a person developing a mental health problem (including a substance misuse problem), experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem or in a ...

Workshops and training of young researchers to better communicate with the public. ARH also offers an annual Knowledge Dissemination Award through the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research, for excellence in knowledge dissemination and research translation.

Fund raising

Most of the funds provided by ARH have come from donations by Rotarians. In order to broaden the donor base, ARH launched Hat Day in 2011 as an annual fund-raising event aimed at the general public.

Key people

CEO: Joy Gillett OAM Chairman of the Board: Greg Ross Patrons: Glen Kinross AO, Rotary International President 1997-98; Sir Clem Renouf AM, Rotary International President 1978-79; His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd)

References

External links

Australian Rotary Health
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Rotary Health Medical and health organisations based in South Australia Rotary International Health charities in Australia