The GCRFF aims to create change in research policies and practices to increase the impact of cardiovascular science.
As it consists of 12 of the world’s largest cardiovascular research funders, it is in a good position to do this.
Partner organisations are setting a joint research agenda to highlight areas of acute unmet need with global relevance.
This coordinated strategic challenge will involve:
- joint assessment of needs and requirements
- collective and broad stakeholder consultation
- potential joint funding mechanisms and positioning on policy and practice issues.
The GCRFF Health Equity Initiative
Health equity is defined by the World Health Organisation as: “the absence of unfair and avoidable or remediable differences in health among population groups defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically”.
Health inequities are at the top of every GCRFF partner organisation’s current priorities. It’s fitting that the GCRFF has chosen such a cross-cutting theme as the first research area to explore.
Gender and sex
Initially, the GCRFF will focus on longstanding gender and sex disparities in cardiovascular health.
These stem from substantial gaps in awareness, research and healthcare, leading to poorer health outcomes for women that could often be easily improved.
Such issues are now widely acknowledged and thoroughly documented. They include:
- the poor representation of women in clinical trials
- insufficient investment in research addressing women-specific diseases.
Through its Health Equity Initiative, the GCRFF aims to advance cardiovascular health equity at a global level.
This includes:
- gender equity
- cardiovascular disease in women
- intersectionality (the combined effects of one’s multiple identities, including race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and employment status).
The initiative will enable GCRFF partner organisations to exert greater influence on both domestic and global research funding practices and take advantage of their vast, collective knowledge and experience.
The GCRFF Women’s Cardiovascular Health Research Initiative
The Women’s Cardiovascular Health Research Initiative is led by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSF), under the coordination of Dr Christine Faubert, HSF’s Director of Health Equity and Mission Impact.
As GCRFF’s first flagship research-oriented action, the initiative also has a dedicated specialist project lead hired by the GCRFF, Stacey Matthews. Stacey is based at the National Heart Foundation of Australia.
Objectives
- Advance an international cardiovascular research agenda focused on gender inequity and the cardiovascular health of women from all backgrounds.
- Lead global efforts to improve research policies and practices.
- Identify, develop and collaboratively fund multinational research projects/programmes focused on advancing women’s cardiovascular health.
- Mobilise existing networks and leverage public and private investment into women’s cardiovascular health.
- Share knowledge and best practice among GCRFF members and the broader research community.
Position paper
GCRFF partner organisations will develop and share their joint vision on how research funders around the world should combat gender and sex inequities in cardiovascular research.
They’ll do this by publishing a position paper that will:
- detail the principles and practices the funders will adhere to when supporting cardiovascular health research from a sex and gender inequity perspective
- guide other funders, policymakers and healthcare practitioners worldwide in meeting those challenges.
Funding challenge
An international funding challenge will be launched to illustrate how the jointly published GCRFF funding principles can be put into practice.
This will directly address the serious imbalances and knowledge gaps still preventing cardiovascular health outcomes in women from reaching the same success rates of those observed in men.
If you have any comments or questions about this work, you can email us at [email protected].
Request for information
The GCRFF are inviting the international cardiovascular research community to fill out an online form to help us identify the most urgent research needs for women’s cardiovascular health.