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Asthma Australia’s National Asthma Research Program (NARP) is the only dedicated asthma research program in Australia.
It has been running since the 1960’s and over this time has supported the careers of many internationally renowned researchers and led to discoveries that have changed practice, policy and lives for the better.
In 2021, we set out to understand the research priorities that matter most to people with asthma and those who care for them – creating the National Asthma Research Agenda (NARA).
National Asthma Research Agenda (NARA)
Adopting an innovative priority setting partnership approach, we led a project to identify the top 10 asthma research priorities for people with asthma, carers, healthcare professionals and policy makers.
We wanted to know what really matters to people who live with asthma, who care for someone with asthma, or who treat people with asthma so we can prioritise asthma research in a coordinated and structured way. This was called for in the National Asthma Strategy (2018); to maximise the potential collectively and positively impact the lives of people with asthma.
Top 10 asthma research priorities
The National Asthma Research Agenda identified the top 10 research priorities for asthma in Australia, aiming to focus researchers and maximise investment into the questions that matter most.
Consumers, carers, healthcare professionals and policy makers told us the most important asthma research priorities were the 10 priority below:
Under each theme, there are specific questions contributors to this project told us they wanted answered.
Read the full National Asthma Research Agenda report or take a look at the summary report. You can also read the National Asthma Research Agenda publication in the Respirology journal.
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Our National Asthma Research Program Strategy (NARP)
Asthma Australia incorporated these priorities into our updated National Asthma Research Program (NARP) Strategy.
Read the two-page NARP Summary Strategy
Vision
To find solutions to reduce the impact of asthma.
Mission
Based on sound consultation and prioritisation, we will invest in progressive approaches to discover, translate and implement real solutions with people with asthma, their loved ones and the community.
Principles
Asthma Australia has identified four guiding principles that we will apply at all times during the execution of this program strategy.
- Lived experience: We put the voice and lived experience of the community at the centre of what we do.
- Progressive: We enable all methods promising to be effective at addressing the community driven priorities.
- Equitable: We enable equity of participation and seek equity of impact.
- Integrity: We honour the trust of those we serve and hold ourselves to account to always act with integrity.
Research priorities
Our primary focus is on these priority themes:
Asthma in children
Prevention, treatment, impacts and avenues to asthma remission in children. Measures to address the impacts and unmet support needs for carers of children with asthma.
Asthma care and self-management
Interventions to improve access to and delivery of services, patient-clinician partnerships, self-management strategies and patient empowerment.
We will have a secondary focus, amplifying funding through investing in partnerships, to address the following priorities:
Diagnosis and medication
New and improved diagnostic tools for asthma. Evidence for incorporating diagnosis of common co-existing conditions as part of the standard assessment.
Prevention of medication side-effects, and more personalised medication options to suit different people with asthma.
Causes, prevention, and features of asthma
Better understanding of the causes and prevention of asthma, including the role of genes and diet.
Better understanding of the intergenerational impacts of asthma, development of severe asthma and prevention of irreversible lung damage.
This theme was the major driver for further discussions about the potential to discover cures in asthma, and more information, about how Asthma Australia is leading that initiative, can be found here.
Asthma and ageing
Better understanding of what causes the development of late-onset asthma.
Evidence of strategies to better manage asthma in older populations, and how this differs to management in other population groups.
What next and how to get involved
We look forward to working with research organisations, funding bodies and people with asthma across Australia to realise the potential of this important work.
Read Asthma Australia’s full Research Program Strategy.
To stay up to date with our research progress you can sign up for our monthly newsletter – onAir.
If you are a researcher or healthcare professional and want to hear more about the project, discuss how you can use these priorities, or have any questions, please contact [email protected].
If you are interested in the CURE Asthma Initiative, sign up to the quarterly newsletter.
NARA Project Ambassadors
We’d like to thank our NARA project ambassadors.
