(Sharlene Rutherford/ Edmonton Journal) — New evidence from Alberta Women’s Health Foundation (AWHF) shows that despite being 51 per cent of the population, women’s health research in Alberta receives only 3.4 per cent of total funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Regrettably, this news will not shock everyone. As explored in our recently published Finding the Fractures report, granting for research in women’s health has been sidelined for decades.
Many of us could guess that women make up almost exactly half of the population, which is accurate. Logically, one would assume that women’s health research also receives roughly half of the funding, correct? Painfully wrong. Women’s health research receives no more than eight per cent of medical research funding in Canada. While we founded the AWHF knowing this, we have since made a more dramatic discovery — here in Alberta, only 3.4 per cent of funding goes to women’s health. It’s at least twice as bad as we thought. In fact, that ratio would need to increase fifteen-fold to get us to parity. (…)