Executive summary

This discussion paper was created for the Public Health Agency of Canada, Atlantic Region (PHAC Atlantic) in February and March 2005. The objectives of the paper are to assist the PHAC Atlantic to better understand the regional public health environment and to identify opportunities to build effective public health partnerships that can enhance the capacity of all levels of government, academia, and community to work together.

As a primary activity, an inventory of stakeholders in public health in the region was identified. Building upon this base, a selection of publically available documents was collected in a descriptive bibliography. A tool that used both focus areas and enabling functions in public health as lenses for activity was developed by the steering committee, and 125 groups were identified for interview. Interviews were conducted with 92 individuals spanning government, academic, and non-profit groups in all four provinces, including Francophone and Acadian groups and multi-sector and pan-Atlantic groups.

Respondents were asked to describe how public health is organized in their region and to comment specifically on the public health role of their organization, department, or group. This provided the basis for a broad snapshot of public health activity in the region. As public health is in a period of great flux across Canada, the picture provided here is a basic one and should be built upon with further activity.

Stakeholders were asked to identify barriers and challenges to effective public health practice in the region. The main challenges and barriers identified were a lack of funding and resources for public health; challenges in working both across jurisdictions and within sectors; the disconnect between practice, research, and policy; an overall public focus on health care services; and fragmentation within the public health system.

Success stories were collected from all respondents. Several of these success stories are highlighted in the body of this paper.

Stakeholders were also asked about priority areas for public health enhancement in the region, and they identified both enabling functions and topic areas for public health. Priority work needed to enhance the function of public health in the region falls under the categories of health surveillance; research, evaluation, and knowledge translation; policy, legislation, regulation, and planning; health human resource planning, development, and training; and community capacity building. Topic areas include work on specific risk factors as well as a call to focus on certain population groups.

The respondents were asked to identify areas in which the PHAC Atlantic can improve coordination and collaboration and support the development of public health in the region. The nine overarching recommendations for the PHAC Atlantic are as follows:

• Champion public health.
• Define and promote the role of the PHAC.
• Facilitate a strategic plan for pan-Atlantic public health.
• Build capacity for all areas of public health in the Atlantic region.
• Build on the assets, existing models, and areas of strength in Atlantic Canada.
• Support sustainable and targeted funding for public health.
• Create opportunities for networking and partnership.
• Maintain a structure of long-term relationships.
• Be a knowledge broker for public health in Atlantic Canada.

While there are acknowledged gaps in this discussion paper, it does provide a starting point for further discussion and action. The PHAC Atlantic is encouraged to build upon the work of this paper and engage in further activity with stakeholders in the region in order to enhance the entire scope of public health practice.

 

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