Very interesting and provocative editorial on the dire situation facing
public health across Canada appears in the latest issue of the Canadian
Medical Association Journal on the internet.

Public health on the ropes

     CMAJ 2002;166 1245
     http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/166/10/1245


"As we report in this issue, we have a public health system that is on the
ropes.2 Human and technical resources are insufficient, surveillance is
wobbly, laboratory backup is inadequate, especially in emergencies, and the
multitude of health units within the federal government and across the
provinces are woefully disconnected."
...
"In June 2001 the federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers of
health met in St. John's, Nfld., to discuss, among other things, a
commissioned report on public health capacity in Canada.6 This unpublished
report documents serious deficiencies in public health manpower: critical
vacancies in this aging workforce are difficult to fill because of a lack of
experienced mid-career personnel with a full complement of skills (see News,
page 1319). Also noted were "[w]eaknesses in data quality, quantity and
accessibility [and] a lack of skills and knowledge to analyze data," along
with deficiencies in telecommunications and a "need for integrated ...
systems and resources to ensure collection of quality, comprehensive,
health-based data."
Moreover, there are serious regional disparities in our public health
capacity. The Western and Atlantic provinces and the North are particularly
fragile. However, as Richard Schabas points out in this issue7 (see page
1282), even wealthy Ontario is unable to maintain adequate public health
protection for its citizens."
 La sante publique sur la corde raide

     CMAJ 2002;166 1247
     http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/166/10/1247

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