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Research
Attendances during the First 12 Months of Life for Aboriginal Children in Five Remote Communities of Northern AustraliaThe median number of presentations per child in the first year of life was 21 with multiple reasons for presentation.
Research
Swimming pools in remote Aboriginal communitiesProviding remote communities with access to chlorinated swimming pools has been considered as a possible strategy for reducing ear and skin infection rates...

News & Events
Port Hedland welcomes health experts from around AustraliaPort Hedland is hosting some of Australia’s most respected health researchers this week as they join forces with local health professionals to improve the health of people living in the tropical north of the country.

News & Events
National guideline to tackle record rates of skin infectionResearchers have developed the first National Healthy Skin Guideline to address record rates of skin infections in Australia’s Indigenous communities.

News & Events
Major grant empowers community voices to drive reduction in skin infectionsAboriginal community members throughout the Kimberley will take a lead role in driving healthy skin messages within their own communities thanks to a major funding boost to The Kids Research Institute Australia’s SToP Trial.

In late 2022, six-year-old Megan Hutton was living the dream of many kids her age as she celebrated being named runner-up champion athlete at her school sports carnival.

The Institute has become one of the world’s leading Strep A hubs, with multiple teams working in the Institute’s END RHD Program, headed by Associate Professor Asha Bowen, working to understand how Strep A works and find better ways to prevent and control the diseases it causes.

Focus Area
Indigenous HealthThe Indigenous Health research theme integrates the needs of Indigenous families and children into all relevant areas of our work. Improving the health and well-being of Indigenous children and families is an overarching priority for every program and team at the Institute.
Research
Antimicrobial stewardship in remote primary healthcare across northern AustraliaThe high burden of infectious disease and associated antimicrobial use likely contribute to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. We aimed to develop and apply context-specific tools to audit antimicrobial use in the remote primary healthcare setting.
Research
Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of an Emerging Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-Positive ST5 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clone in Northern AustraliaRecently, we identified a Staphylococcus aureus sequence type 5 (ST5) clone in northern Australia with discrepant trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) susceptibility results. We aimed to identify isolates of this clone using Vitek 2 SXT resistance as a proxy and to compare its epidemiology with those of other circulating S. aureus strains. We collated Vitek 2 susceptibility data for S. aureus isolates collected through our laboratory and conducted a prospective, case-control study comparing clinical, microbiological, epidemiological, and genomic data for subsets of isolates reported as SXT resistant (cases) and SXT susceptible (controls) by Vitek 2.