Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis (referred to as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD) are painful, debilitating and medically incurable illnesses that attack the digestive system. More than 60,000 Australians suffer from Crohn’s or Colitis. While a number of treatments exist and the disease can often be managed, the cause or causes of IBD remain unknown.
Crohn’s Colitis Cure (CCC) is an Australian registered charity that has been established to support a research consortium (known as ANZIBDC), a collaborative research initiative explicitly targeting IBD. ANZIBDC is a team of clinicians and scientists based at 12 IBD centres located at major hospital sites. It is the largest and most important research project of its type ever undertaken in Australia and New Zealand.
Each site will obtain DNA and blood samples from patients with IBD. This information will be collated, codified and stored for use by researchers, PhD students and other scientists. In the most simple terms, the goal of ANZIBDC and CCC is to help find a cure for Crohn’s and Colitis.
All of this work requires funding – from the initial step of blood and data collection, the shipping of samples to a centralised data site for analysis, collation and research. There is limited government funding available for this work, and public funding is insecure and uncertain. The need for financial resources is urgent and ongoing. It is only via charitable donations that we can continue with this work. CCC has been specifically established to raise money for the work of ANZIBDC and its goal of curing IBD.
We need your help to enable this important work to take place. If you have or know someone with IBD, you will know that these are difficult and at times awful conditions. The work of ANZIBDC complements research being done in the US, the UK and Europe. ANZIBDC has gathered together some of the most eminent physicians in Australia and New Zealand. These doctors are directly involved in the project and a number of them are directors of CCC.
