Lessons Learned Review: Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada Response to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic

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November 2010

The information in this report was obtained by the Public Health Agency of Canada Evaluation Services Directorate through a revie

w of relevant material and a series of interviews. This report does not draw exhaustive or definitive conclusions on all the activities leading up to or taken by various individuals or entities during the H1N1 pandemic response. Rather, the observations in this report are meant to give senior management of the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada a general overview of what worked well in response to this particular event and what needs further refinement to be better prepared for future pandemics and other national public health events.

Acknowledgement

It is important to acknowledge the profound professionalism, commitment and hard work of staff across the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada during the H1N1 pandemic. Their dedication to anticipating and responding to the needs of Canadians was admirable.

Table of contents

• Executive summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Background and context
• 3. Findings
  • 3.1 Surveillance, science and research
  • 3.2 Collaboration with provinces and territories
  • 3.3 Guidance
  • 3.4 Stakeholder engagement
  • 3.5 Communicating with Canadians
  • 3.6 Federal response in on-reserve First Nation communities
  • 3.7 Emergency stockpile
  • 3.8 Vaccine
  • 3.9 Operational management
• 4. Summary and recommendations
• References

List of figures

• Figure 2.1 Comparison between seasonal influenza and H1N1
• Figure 2.2 Timeline: The H1N1 pandemic in Canada
• Figure 2.3 Cumulative numbers of hospitalized cases, intensive care unit admissions and deaths among pandemic H1N1 confirmed cases, Canada, April 12, 2009, to April 24, 2010
• Figure 2.4 Pan-Canadian Public Health Network composition as of March 31, 2010
• Figure 3.2.1 Federal, provincial and territorial H1N1 health emergency management response and organization as of December 21, 2009 (time limited for H1N1 response only)
• Figure 3.3.1 Overview of the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada H1N1 influenza virus guidance
• Figure 3.9.1 Description of H1N1 activation levels in the Emergency Operations Centre
• Figure 3.9.2 Example of the Incident Management System
• Figure 4.1 Areas for action and cross-cutting recommendations

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