Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
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<strong>Health</strong> systems in transition <strong>Canada</strong> 33<br />
This research activity is supported by an extensive infrastructure <strong>for</strong> health<br />
data provided by Statistics <strong>Canada</strong> through five-year censuses as well as a<br />
number of health surveys. Long recognized as one of the world’s premier<br />
statistical agencies, Statistics <strong>Canada</strong> was a pioneer in the gathering of health<br />
statistics as well as in the development of indicators of health status and<br />
the determinants of health. Data collection has been extended considerably<br />
through Statistics <strong>Canada</strong>’s partnership with the Canadian Institute <strong>for</strong> <strong>Health</strong><br />
In<strong>for</strong>mation (CIHI) (see section 2.3.3).<br />
The federal government also provides the majority of funding <strong>for</strong> major<br />
research initiatives that are governed independently, including Genome <strong>Canada</strong><br />
and the Canadian <strong>Health</strong> Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) 1 . Genome<br />
<strong>Canada</strong>’s objective is to make <strong>Canada</strong> a world leader in research capable of<br />
isolating disease predisposition and developing better diagnostic tools and<br />
prevention strategies. CHSRF focuses on research in health services aimed<br />
at improving health care organization, administration and delivery as well<br />
as acting as knowledge brokers between the research and decision-making<br />
communities.<br />
2.3.3 The intergovernmental level<br />
As a decentralized state operating in an environment of increasing health<br />
policy interdependence, the F/P/T governments rely heavily on both direct<br />
and arm’s length intergovernmental instruments to facilitate and coordinate<br />
policy and programme areas (Marchildon, 2010). The direct instruments are<br />
F/P/T advisory councils and committees which report to the Conference of<br />
F/P/T Deputy Ministers of <strong>Health</strong>, which, in turn, report to the Conference<br />
of F/P/T Ministers of <strong>Health</strong> (O’Reilly, 2001). The more arm’s length<br />
intergovernmental instruments, most of which have been established very<br />
recently, are intergovernmental non-profit-making corporations funded and<br />
partially governed by the sponsoring governments.<br />
The Conference of F/P/T Ministers of <strong>Health</strong> is co-chaired by the federal<br />
minister and a provincial minister of health selected on a rotating basis. This<br />
committee is mirrored by the Conference of F/P/T Deputy Ministers of <strong>Health</strong><br />
with an identical chair arrangement. In order to conduct their work in priority<br />
areas of concern, the ministers and deputy ministers of health have established,<br />
reorganized and disbanded various advisory committees and task <strong>for</strong>ces over<br />
time, including those on health delivery and human resources, in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
and emerging technologies, population health and health security as well as<br />
1 At the time of press CHSRF was renamed the Canadian Foundation <strong>for</strong> <strong>Health</strong>care Improvement.