Canada needs to support health research at home and abroad

In the face of major changes to federal policy and funding in the United States, Canada should support Canadian researchers with adequate funding to ensure long-term research in health and science, argue authors in two articles published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

“As the US stands on the brink of tearing down its exemplary system for covering the full costs of research, Canada, with its flawed federal system for indirect costs, should heed the recent commissioned science policy report and a chorus of advocacy calling for an enhanced indirect cost system,” writes Dr. William Ghali, vice-president research, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250406. 

This means overhauling the federal Research Support Fund, which supports indirect research costs through institutions like universities.  

In addition to shoring up funding support at home, Canada can play a key role in helping shape a new World Health Organization (WHO) in the wake of the abrupt US withdrawal, “pushing for and shaping a WHO that can function independently of any single capricious member state,” writes Dr. Kirsten Patrick, editor-in-chief, CMAJhttps://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250418. “Canada should also increase its contributions to the WHO and to global health aid at this time.” 

She warns that Canada needs to commit to supporting high-quality scientific research. This would include adequate funding, timely sharing of health data between provinces — deidentified at the patient level — to ensure we can share up-to-date disease trends with international partners.  

“Reliable North American health data that originate from Canada are more important than they have ever been. Now is the time to fund Canadian health researchers properly and to support them to share their work, publish in reputable journals, and collaborate internationally,” Dr. Patrick concludes.