Alberta commits $26M to advancing women's health, research

The Alberta government is committing $26 million to advance women's health research and improve infant survival rates.

At a Friday announcement, Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange highlighted budget commitments to support the Alberta Women's Health Foundation and the Calgary Health Foundation with $10 million each over the next two years. The cash infusion will be used by the two organizations to address what the province called long-standing gaps and concerns in women's health care.

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"This funding will strengthen Alberta's position as a national leader in women's health and enable our province to provide better care to the nearly two million women in our province," Smith said.

The new funds will enable the Alberta Women's Health Foundation to create a legacy grant that will support research on cervical cancer, heart disease and other common health issues facing women, and attract new researchers to the province. The Calgary Health Foundation will use the funding to bolster its support of cancer research programs, as well as the development of rapid access clinic and pelvic floor health projects in Calgary.

Murray Sigler, president and CEO of the Calgary Health Foundation, said the investments mark a "significant milestone" for women's health in Alberta.

Alberta funding for research into women's health far behind national average

"This investment will enable us to give the necessary attention, funding and advocacy to the unique health challenges women face every day," said Sigler. "Reduction in wait list times, the building of additional examination and treatment spaces, the expansion of existing initiatives and the creation of new innovative programs focused on priorities identified by women are all possible."

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Currently, only 3.4 per cent of total research funding in Alberta goes toward female-specific health concerns, well behind the national average of eight per cent, according to a 2021 report by the Alberta Women's Health Foundation.

The province has also earmarked $6 million to expand its newborn screening program. The program will be expanded to test infants for 26 metabolic disorders, up from the current 22.

"This will make the program one of the most comprehensive in the country, as Alberta will be the first province to screen for the four new conditions," said LaGrange.

Almost every newborn in the province undergoes the screening and results are typically reported back to parents within 10 days. Dr. Eliza Phillips, a metabolic specialist at the Alberta Children's Hospital, said early screening and diagnosis of these types of conditions makes a massive difference.

"It can be the difference between a child who is severely disabled and a child who would grow up healthy, with normal development — it's life-changing," she said.

The four new conditions for which newborns will be screened are congenital cytomegalovirus, argininosuccinic aciduria, guanidinoacetate methyltransferase deficiency and mucopolysaccharidosis type 1.

mrodriguez@postmedia.com

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