Alberta announces women’s health research funding [Video]

Alberta’s health minister says she’s doubling the mandated funding for women’s health in the province.

On Friday, Adriana LaGrange is scheduled to announce $20 million in funding over two years for the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation. 

“I had the mandate to have $10 million allocated to women’s health and to research, and I really felt that was inadequate,” LaGrange told CTV News Edmonton Thursday.

The grant will support research on cervical cancer, heart disease and other common health conditions.

The province said that funding will also help recruit researchers and support advocacy and awareness for women’s health.

Bobbie Jo Hawkes is the manager for the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association (ZMSA), which represents 1,900 physicians in the Edmonton area.

She is also a chair on the association’s women’s health committee, which has been working for the past year to identify and advocate for strategies to improve women’s health-care services. 

“We very quickly recognized that the health system was not originally …