May 7, 1999 For Immediate Release

Health Minister Allan Rock today announced funding of up to $200,000 for two national rural health initiatives during a visit to the University of Northen British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince George.

"Canadians have told their governments how important it is to keep our health system strong and effective and the Federal Government responded to this message in the last Federal Budget," Minister Rock stated. "the budget includes strong support for the almost one-third of Canadians who live in rural and remote areas."

Health Canada will provide funding to host a national rural health research summit at UNBC later this year. The Summit will assemble leading national researchers, community health providers, representatives from First Nations and Federal and Provincial officials. It will be co-chaired by Dr John Wootton, Executive Director of Health Canada's Office of Rural Health and Dr Max Blouw, Associate Vice-President of Research and Dean of Graduate Studies at UNBC. The Summit will:

• establish the importance of rural health issues,
• construct a blueprint for research solutions to those issues, focussing on innovation and integration, and
• shape a national network for rural health research.

In addition to the Summit, funding will also be provided to UNBC to help establish a Canadian network of rural health researchers. The network will complement the Canadian Institues of Health Research announced in the 1999 Federal Government.

"Today's announcement is an important step in increasing our understanding of rural health in Canada," said Dr Wootton. "Ultimately, rural Canadians will be the beneficiaries of a concerted effort by many partners to understand and address their health issues."

In addition to increasing transfer payments to the Provinces by $11.5 billion in the 1999 budget, the Federal Government introduced $1.4 billion in measures that will help address rural health issues including funidng for health information systems, First Nations health care, the NURSE fund and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.