THE coronvirus pandemic could "threaten years of hard-fought progress in finding treatments and cures" into heart research, a leading charity has warned.
The British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland (BHF NI) says the future of lifesaving heart research is at stake unless the UK government steps in to invest in charity-funded research.
On World Heart Day today, it is calling for heart research to be protected amid the devastating impact that Covid-19 has had on its vital work.
The charity said its net income and resulting investment in new research is likely to drop by up to 50 per cent this year with fundraising events cancelled and charity shops shut due to the lockdown.
It says such a sharp fall could have a catastrophic impact on UK cardiovascular research, the research careers of thousands of young scientists, and advances in diagnostics, treatments and cures for people with heart and circulatory diseases.
The charity is calling on local MPs and the Northern Ireland Executive to put pressure on the UK government to establish a vital Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund - a time limited co-investment scheme between government and charity funders to help protect world-class research.
BHF NI has joined the Association of Medical Research Charities and 151 of its members, including Cancer Research UK and Parkinson’s UK, to call on the UK government to match charity-funded research for the next three years.
Fearghal McKinney, head of BHF NI said the north has a history of lifesaving heart research breakthroughs, which must be protected.
"Today on World Heart Day there is no better time for our local MPs to get behind the campaign for the UK government to establish a vital Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund to match research charity funding and help protect world-class research," he said.
"The coronavirus crisis will unfortunately have a long-lasting and devastating impact on charities like ours, with our funding for new research falling by up to £50m this year alone.
"It would be a tragedy if we allowed the Covid-19 pandemic to threaten years of hard-fought progress in finding treatments and cures for some of the world’s biggest killers.
"We owe it to future generations of patients to keep funding research to find the next breakthroughs."
