Abysmally Low Research Funding

Despite having officially recognized the best ME definition of any country (the Canadian Consensus Criteria), Canada has almost nonexistent funding for ME, making research difficult.

The Canadian group, the National ME/FM Action Network reports the following statistics:

• There are 756,000 Canadians diagnosed with ME and/or FM.
• In the fiscal year, 2014-2015, the Canadian federal government funded 54 cents per ME patient for research, and 71 cents per FM  patient. Yes, that's pennies, not dollars. (Note - for comparison, the US rate is $5 per CFS patient.)
• There are more Canadians with ME and/or FM than Canadians with breast cancer, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis combined. Each breast cancer patient represents $164.00/annum in federal research funding, each Parkinson's patient represents $353.00 in annual funding, and each MS patient represents $73.00 in annual funding.

The National ME/FM Action Network has drawn up a one-page summary.

As you will note, this brief summary covers a lot of the bases including prevalence, and the abysmal level of research funding, as well as the economic impact of ME and FM.

Vote in the Aviva Contest to Raise Money for Research

These statistics may look hopeless, but fortunately, there is something you can do to help.

The ME (ME/CFS) Fundraising Group has announced that the National ME/FM Action Network in Canada is competing in the Aviva contest for up to $100,000 for ME and FM research. There is both a public voting and a Final judging phase. The top five entries in our category during the voting phase will advance to the judging phase. If they advance, they are guaranteed $5,000 and have a chance of winning $100,000. Last year they did win $5,000.

Public voting runs from October 6th (at noon Eastern Standard Time) through October 23rd (at 4 pm EST). Each person gets eighteen votes and can vote once every twenty-four hours. It appears that international voting is permitted again this year.

You can register with just your email or via Facebook at www.avivacommunityfund.org.

To register, click on the Login button on the top right corner, then select Sign Up. Fill in the required information and submit it. Aviva will send you an activation email. When the email arrives, click “complete your registration” and you should now be good to go. You can register now.

When voting begins, just go to www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf32536 to cast your votes.

Prize money will be used to support biomedical research of ME and FM in Canada. You can read more details at the above link.

You can receive a daily reminder to vote via email or through Facebook. To receive an email, just send your email request to [email protected]. To receive a daily reminder through Facebook, join the event at https://www.facebook.com/events/542552745892932/.

Please vote DAILY, share contest information widely, and invite your family and friends to join us in this great effort. Thank you very much for your help!