(gentle music)
- Do you know, parts of Northern and Central Australia
have the highest rates of skin sores in the world?
And about 50% of Aboriginal children
are affected with the condition at any time.
Skin sores, also known as impetigo,
is a highly contagious bacterial infection
that affects over 160 million children globally.
In Australia a staggering 16,000 Indigenous children
are affected with the condition at any given time.
And about two thirds of these children require treatment
before their first birthday.
But, why skin sores are deadly?
If left untreated, the skin sores may cause lifelong damage
to the kidneys and heart where people may end up on dialysis
or with chronic heart disease, or even may die.
This situation is aggravated by the troubling decline
in the efficacy of commonly used antibiotics
due to the rapid increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria.
My research,
which involves the development of a novel skin therapeutic
will fast-track the drug discovery process for skin sores.
Therefore, I'm requesting $7,000
to overcome some of the budgetary shortfalls
to complete preclinical works using animal
and human tissue models to validate the clinical efficacy
of an innovative skin therapeutic.
This pilot research will be critical
to attract additional government support,
and is likely to lead to bridging the life expectancy gap
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Thank you.
(gentle music)