Canadians Opinions on Health Research: public opinion survey on health and medical research released January 18, 2010.

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A changing of the guard

Whether this season’s swine flu turns out to be deadly or mild, most experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before we’re hit by a truly devastating flu pandemic—one that might kill more people worldwide than have died of the plague and aids combined.

In the U.S., the main lines of defense are pharmaceutical—vaccines and antiviral drugs to limit the spread of flu and prevent people from dying from it. Yet now some flu experts are challenging the medical orthodoxy and arguing that for those most in need of protection, flu shots and antiviral drugs may provide little to none. So where does that leave us if a bad pandemic strikes?

Everyone in the world has an interest in health and medicine – a rather mundane observation that is beginning to have profound implications for the way we invest in this field. Just ask Alain Beaudet, President of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), who oversees much of that investment by this country.

Annual opinion polling results shows overwhelming support for biotechnology as National Biotechnology Week celebrates the industry across Canada

Watch the video about funding the future in Canada and in America: the cross-border war over science dollars.

It isn’t that Harper forgot about research in the recent blockbuster spending budget. It’s just that focusing exclusively on infrastructure and jobs isn’t going to work.

CHR was founded in 1976 as an association of individuals and organizations committed to encouraging communication among the public, the scientific community and government and to promoting the stability and quality of Canadian health research.

CHR is a voluntary, nonprofit national organization that does not raise funds for research. It does require funds to cover the costs of educational functions and the publication of its quarterly magazine, Future Health.

CHR is not a lobby organization and receives no government funding.

CHR supporters are individuals, families, voluntary associations, scientific/medical societies and corporations who endorse the need for improved awareness of and public advocacy for Canadian health research.