By Neena Bhandari
As new epidemics of chronic disease and injury were growing in the world’s largest emerging economies, Institute co-founders, Stephen MacMahon and Robyn Norton, thought there would be value in creating a research centre focused on developing new effective and affordable solutions, in partnership with researchers in India, China and other countries in Asia.
“The main challenge at the time we founded the Institute was that the entire focus of the global health world was infectious disease, maternal and child health, and malnutrition. There was very little interest in chronic disease or injury, trauma or mental health. There was the general view that these were all diseases of rich countries and of rich people and they weren’t likely to be of much relevance to people in emerging economies. That meant that it was very difficult to raise money for projects focusing on these diseases in low and middle-income countries. So we began by building a research program in Australia and extending that to places like India and China, until we were able to find financial support that allowed us to do work that was entirely focused on healthcare solutions for these countries”, says Professor MacMahon, who is currently the Principal Director of The George Institute for Global Health (worldwide).