Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I thank the honourable senator for her question. It is clear that women face unique challenges when it comes to being research subjects with a view to improving clinical outcomes in areas such as ovarian and uterine cancer, sexual and genetic health, gender violence and health during pregnancy.

The new National Women’s Health Research Initiative launched in October 2022 will advance a coordinated research program that addresses under-researched and high-priority areas. This investment will drive research to enhance health outcomes and eliminate gaps in access to care. I will bring your specific question to the attention of the ministers responsible.

Hon. Renée Dupuis: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. In recent years, women’s health research has shown that there are gaps in our knowledge about how diseases affect women. Some of these gaps in our understanding are a direct result of the fact that medical research has been conducted only on male animals and men.

The fact is, women have long been systematically excluded from studies for a variety of reasons, including convenience and prejudice. This shortcoming manifests itself in different ways, including gaps in the ability to recognize women’s symptoms, gaps in the treatments women receive, gaps in clinical management, and the risk of re-hospitalization for women aged 55 and under, which is almost double that of men the same age.

Medical circles now recognize the importance of parity in research. In their view, there is no reason to adopt a male-centric standard for heart attack symptoms, for example. Such a standard is unjustified and biased. We now know that both women and men are at risk of cardiovascular disease. Until very recently, it was thought that only men were at risk, because research focused exclusively on men, and some research found that women with cardiovascular disorders had atypical symptoms compared with men.

It is becoming increasingly clear that women and men are equally at risk of such diseases, but we’re only just beginning to recognize how symptoms present in women, because research is finally being done by and with women.

We know that health research and health care are heavily subsidized by public funds. Can you confirm that all federal health research agencies and programs now require that research on diseases not specific to men or women include both women and men in their studies?