Funding the 'H' in NHMRC

[Extract] Pressure from a range of sources on the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is intensifying to increase the funding it devotes to the social determinants of health. Most significantly, the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee recommended in its report on Australia's domestic response to the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health that “the NHMRC give greater emphasis in its grant allocation priorities to research on public health and social determinants research”. 1 The underlying message for the Council is the same as expressed by others: you do well at funding medical research but much less well at funding health research. The newly elected Coalition Government is committed to research that improves the health and wellbeing of Australians and has decided to give a $100 million boost to medical research.2 Research on social determinants may be more cost effective than biomedical research in addressing many health issues. In this editorial we consider the arguments that have been advanced to support this message and suggest some steps towards improved research funding for social determinants of health research.