Government funding for healthcare infection prevention research: A scoping review of the past decade

Abstract

Background: Healthcare infection prevention and control (IPC) programs are recognised globally as a system-wide strategy to support patient and staff safety. Research evidence is essential to underpin these programs, however it is unclear the level of national research funding invested into healthcare IPC in the past decade. Methods: Scoping review using Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. A systematic search of national category 1 grants awarded between 2014 and 2023 on healthcare IPC was undertaken. Grants were eligible if they were focused on healthcare IPC, we excluded preclinical studies and vaccine development studies. Two independent reviewers screened and extracted data, result were summarised narratively. Results: We identified 10,394 grants, amounting to $19.7B, awarded between 2014 and 2023. A total of $37.11M was provided for 23 IPC research projects/programs (median per grant $1.10M, interquartile range 335k to 2.44M). Accounted for approximately 0.19 % of the total government health research funding in Australia from 2014 to 2023. No healthcare IPC related grants were awarded in 2020, the peak of the pandemic. Conclusion: IPC research funding in Australia remains disproportionately low relative to infection health and economic burden.