World first Victorian child health study reaches 100,000 milestone

A world-first study tracking the health and wellbeing of Victorians, from birth to old age, has reached a recruitment milestone of over 100,000 participants.

 

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s Generation Victoria (GenV) is one of the world’s largest-ever birth and parent cohort studies, and is seeking further support to achieve a simple yet important goal: to transform the health and wellbeing of an entire generation of Victorians – with inclusivity and equity at its heart.

 

GenV aims to create parallel, whole-of-state child and parent cohorts for discovery and research that could lead to better interventions for children and adults, bringing together information and samples already collected by services, combining it with parent-reported information. 

 

All information and samples are safely and securely stored and can be used in future ethically-approved projects. This information could help researchers, services and policy makers find new solutions to many of today’s most common childhood conditions. 

 

Over a two-year period, GenV is asking parents of every newborn to take part. Each baby born from 4 October 2021 to 3 October 2023 is invited to join, along with their parents – no matter where they live in Victoria or what language they speak. So far, the recruitment team has recorded 70 languages, including Auslan, with more than 7,000 GenV families primarily speaking a language other than English at home.

 

Joining GenV is easy for parents and participating takes little of their time. Parents can sign up in person during their birthing hospital stay or any time thereafter via a simple, guided online process. While the focus up until now has been on babies, children born in this period can join GenV at any age – the GenV door is always open.

 

GenV is led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, supported by the Royal Children’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne and funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Victorian Government and the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

 

To join or hear more, please visit GenV.