Online registry that connects Nova Scotians to sexual health care scrambling after losing funding

An online registry and support line that helps Nova Scotians access sexual, gender and reproductive health care is facing an uncertain future after its funding from Health Canada ran out last month.

Sexual Health Nova Scotia launched its SUGAR Health website in Nov. 2023, after receiving just over $500,000 from Health Canada's Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Fund in the spring.

The registry was the first of its kind in Nova Scotia, providing an online portal to help people navigate and access health services like sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, cervical screening, gender-affirming care and abortion care.

But it also provides what the organization calls a warmline, a chat service that gives people the option to call or text a navigator who will guide them through available services.

Leigh Heide, the project manager for SUGAR Health, said they had applied for a renewal of funding through Health Canada in December, with the understanding that the federal agency's goal was to extend funding for existing projects.

The application was sent back, they said, and they were asked to reduce the budget by 25 per cent and then resubmit — which they did.

But the application was denied mid-February, less than four months after the site launched. The funding expired on March 31.

"It was very shocking. We had felt confident in our conversations with them that the goal was the extension and they were supporting us in that process," Heide told Information Morning Halifax.

"We knew there was a reduced amount of funding in the fund overall, but we were very confident about our chances, especially being only one of two Atlantic Canadian projects." 

Heide said SUGAR Health has just begun gaining momentum, given the short timeframe they've had. 

"People are hearing about the project, getting more and more engagement through the warmline, and then is it going to just halt?" they said.

"And then on a personal level, we've got three staff that are going, 'OK, so I just don't have a job in six weeks?'"

Heide said during the first few months of operation, Nova Scotia's health-care crisis has become evident to the team, as many people don't have a family physician or nurse practitioner.

This makes accessing sexual health and reproductive services difficult, especially cervical screenings and STI testing.

"We knew about those issues. We've known, but it's become even more prominent through this project that there's a real crisis in this field."

Heide said SUGAR Health helps take away from that stress, by considering individual barriers that some people face, while providing them with the knowledge to navigate the health system effectively.

"Thinking about it in a comprehensive, holistic way is really an important piece," they said.

"And without our warmline, [SUGAR Health] is a website that people can look at on their own — which again, it's a great resource — but without that accompanying navigation support, it's not really the same thing."

Tammy Jarbeau, a spokesperson with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, said in an emailed statement $454,000 in time-limited funding was given to Sexual Health Nova Scotia from March 2023 to March 2024 to establish "a virtual provincial database of service providers" that would provide quick access to reproductive health care. The funding came from $45 million the federal government set aside for a sexual and reproductive health fund in its 2021 budget.

Though the fund was renewed for three additional years in the 2023 budget, Jarbeau said the total requests for project funding extensions "exceeded the available budget."

"...based on a thorough evaluation of all project proposals, Health Canada was not able to extend funding for the SUGAR Health project," Jarbeau wrote. "Health Canada will be issuing a call for new proposals, at which time the Sexual Health Nova Scotia will have the opportunity to apply."