Measuring Up - A Health Surveillance Update on Canadian Children and Youth

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Future Developments - Enhanced Surveillance of Women's Pregnancy Experiences

The Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System (CPSS), managed by the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health in LCDC, is a national program that monitors trends and patterns in the health of pregnant women, mothers and infants in Canada. The CPSS Steering Committee and Bureau staff have identified a set of perinatal health indicators required for comprehensive national perinatal health surveillance. These include indicators of women's perspectives, experiences and health behaviours in pregnancy, childbirth and new motherhood. The currently available national health databases do not contain the data necessary for monitoring issues such as physical abuse of pregnant women, illicit drug use during pregnancy, breastfeeding duration (to 4 months and 6 months), postpartum depression and client satisfaction with services. Therefore, the CPSS will initiate a national reproductive health survey that will provide these data and enable the program to report on these very important aspects of maternal and infant health.

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