Public Health Centre
This article was originally published in SRA
Executive Summary
Canada to establish new centre for disease control and prevention
Canada to establish new centre for disease control and prevention
The Canadian Minister of Health, Anne McLellan, has announced plans for a new public health centre along the lines of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)1. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in August 2003, Ms McLellan said that the recent outbreaks of SARS, West Nile Virus and BSE in Canada had highlighted the value of `a nerve centre of expertise and research...that can be mobilised at a moment's notice to enable a comprehensive and co-ordinated pan-Canadian response'. Such a centre `must have a focus on both disease control and prevention' and `a `made-in-Canada' approach that reflects our unique and prized health system'.
The exact model, mandate, budget and other key features of the centre would be the subject of discussion at all levels, Ms McLellan added. However, she said she expected it would offer the following:
- the ability to monitor public health;
- a systematic approach to detecting and investigating health problems;
- the undertaking of research that could improve the prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases;
- expertise in developing and promoting public health properties and implementing prevention strategies; and
- the provision of a national public health network.
The plan for a Canadian public health centre can be seen as part of a wider reform of the healthcare system currently underway. At the end of last year the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology issued the Kirby Report, which contained a number of recommendations aimed at improving the coverage of the Canadian healthcare system and established mechanisms to monitor its performance2. Shortly thereafter, the Romanow Report was published by the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, containing proposals for improving the pharmaceutical sector in Canada. Both reports were instrumental in an agreement for a new health plan reached by Canada's first ministers in February 2003.
References
1. Speaking Notes for The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Health, at the Canadian Medical Association's Annual General Meeting, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 18 August 2003, www.hc-sc.gc.ca
2 . The Regulatory Affairs Journal - Pharma , 2003, 14 (3), 210