Why doctors and researchers say Canada needs to change course on women’s health studies [Video]

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Despite a rule that requires sex and gender to be considered when funding medical research in Canada, new research shows the number of grants for women’s health studies hasn’t budged in five years, something doctors say has serious implications for their patients.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has mandated the inclusion of sex and gender as criteria for awarding grants since 2010. Despite that, a group of researchers found in 2023 that less than six per cent of Canadian health research funding went to women’s health. Now, their new study is also analyzing how narrow the field of women’s health research is.

While women’s health is currently more focused on areas like pregnancy and breast and gynecological cancers, …