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Funding for midwifery research
Professor Sue Kildea
Professor Sue Kildea has been awarded funding by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The $456,760 grant is for research on whether sterile water injections can decrease caesarean section rates and improve outcomes for women or their babies.
Professor Kildea is Director of the Midwifery Research Unit at ACU and Mater Medical Research Institute (MMRI).
She is the Chief Investigator on the double-blind collaborative study, which will run for three years across four hospitals and include 1846 women.
Nigel Lee, Project Manager and PhD candidate, said sterile water injections could be an innovative and simple technique to increase the normal birth rate.
“There are indications the sterile water injections used to ease back pain during labour may also decrease the rate of caesarean sections,” he said.
“Caesarean section can cause increased risk of infection, increased recovery time and other serious complications. There are many benefits to encouraging a normal birth.”
Holding a Chair of Midwifery at ACU and MMRI, Professor Kildea said the grant was a significant achievement and will help support vital midwifery research.
"This is an exciting area of research which we already have a track record in. This large study has been called for internationally and will attract much interest,” she said.
Professor Kilda will also participate in a collaborative project which was granted $660,886 to develop an Australian Regional Birthing Index.
In total ACU will administer two grants from nine applications totalling more than $2.7 million, and participate in the collaborative research of two other grants totalling $1.5 million.
