The ORIGINS Project

The ORIGINS Project is the largest study of its kind in Australia, following 10,000 chilren and their families over the next decade to improve child and adult health.

The unique long-term study is one of the most comprehensive studies of pregnant women and their families in Australia to date, involving families whose babies were born at the Joondalup Health Campus.

ORIGINS is following the progress of pregnant women, their partners and babies for the first five years of the baby’s life, following an increasing understanding that an individual’s lifetime health and disease may be programmed at a very early stage – while a child is still in the womb.

The project is collecting detailed information on how a child’s early environment and parents’ physical health and genetics influence the risk of a wide range of diseases and conditions such as asthma, eczema, food allergies, hay fever, diabetes, obesity and autism. It is also looking at how language development can affect outcomes such as academic achievement, social ability and relationships.

The ORIGINS Project is a collaboration between the Telethon Kids Institute and Joondalup Health Campus. The project is funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and the Commonwealth Government through the Telethon Channel 7 Trust.