Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committee on AIDS

2006 - 2009 Strategic Plan

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F/P/T AIDS' Strategic Plan 2006-2009

This three-year Strategic Plan builds on past successes by articulating ongoing activities, short- term projects, and concrete deliverables. In light of the ever-evolving nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, this Plan will be reviewed on a regular basis as new scientific, medical, and community information becomes available.

Further, the work plan of the committee will be based on the Strategic Plan. A detailed work plan will assist F/P/T AIDS in ensuring that specific activities have measurable outcomes that are linked to and will further the stated goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan.

The foundational elements of the 2003-2006 Strategic Plan - the Mission, Mandate and Values statements - remain constant. For the first time, a Value Proposition has been included. It is derived from past accomplishments combating HIVIAIDS and other blood-borne diseases and from future contributions to which members of the Advisory Committee are committed.

For almost 20 years, members of F/PIT AIDS have described the impact of social determinants on health and health outcomes, focusing attention on the factors that create vulnerability. F/P/T AIDS has deftly presented empirical evidence to policy makers, enabling integrated policies that are locally relevant. The result has had impacts beyond HIV/AIDS. F/P/T AIDS's long experience in influencing and supporting governments and NGOs has made it an effective organization, able to bring insights that have changed both our understanding of blood-borne diseases and our approach to combating them.

Mission

F/P/T AIDS contributes to a decrease in the incidence, prevalence, and burden ofHIV infections in Canada.

Mandate

F/P/T AIDS provides public health policy and programmatic advice on issues and priority initiatives related to HIVIAIDS in Canada.

F/P/T AIDS promotes timely, effective, and efficient intergovernmental and inter-jurisdictional collaboration on the prevention and control of HIVIAIDS in Canada.

F/P/T AIDS promotes the generation of knowledge and its application in developing evidence-based responses to HIVIAIDS in Canada.

Values

F/P/T AIDS is a committee based on mutual accountability and shared responsibility. To guide its collaborative processes and work, the committee bases its actions on the following principles:

Evidence Based

F/P/T AIDS bases it work on the analysis of the best data, research, and practice information that is available. Wherethis informationis not available,F/P/T AIDSendeavoursto encourageor facilitatethe research or data gathering that is necessary to provide an informed analysis of the issue under consideration. The committee recognizes the importance of the contribution of community-based experience in understanding the impact ofHN/AIDS.

Collaborative

The work of the F/P/T AIDS Committee is collaborative, both in principle and in practice. Although its membership is limited to government representatives, F/P/T AIDS endeavours to meet with and support the involvement of key stakeholders and HIV/AIDS experts. The committee recognizes that HIV is broadly impacted by the determinants of health and therefore supports the importance of intersectoral as well as intergovernmental collaboration. The practice of information sharing and networking between jurisdictions has supported representatives in strengthening their HIV/AIDS expertise. Respective jurisdictions have been provided with cost-effective policy advice supported through the development of shared language and documents on emerging issues.

Flexible

F/P/T AIDS recognizes the need to respond to emerging HIV/AIDS issues in an environment that is influenced by an evolving and changing epidemic, stakeholder responses and advocacy, health system renewal, and jurisdictional changes.

Accountable

The F/P/T AIDS committee representatives are formally accountable to their respective federal, provincial, and territorial departments of health. In addition, F/P/T AIDS, as a liaison committee, is accountable to CDMH through the PHN. F/P/T AIDS is committed to identifying measurable outcomes for the strategic objectives, activities, and initiatives in which it engages.

Consensus Based Decision-Making

F/P/T AIDS and its working groups make decisions by consensus. Consensus means that agreement is reached among all members. Consensus does not necessarily require that each member is fully satisfied with the decision that has been reached; rather, it means that no one is fundamentally opposed and that each member can live with the decision, despite clearly identified differences of opinion. F/P/T AIDS terms of reference, which are found in Appendix B, outline its decision-making process.

Respectful

F/P/T AIDS respects the jurisdictional mandates and responsibilities of its members and partners, while building on common values, principles, interests, and purposes.

Value Proposition

F/P/T AIDS demonstrates that public health and advocacy organizations, working together and with community groups, can combat disease by deliberately coordinating social, behavioral, and medical interventions that discreetly and precisely attack root causes among diverse populations.

Its insight and influence extends beyond the domain of HIV/AIDS. Through nearly 20 years of examining data, creating knowledge, and powerfully presenting recommendations to policy- and decision-makers, F/P/T AIDS has had an impact on the way all related infectious diseases (such as, STls, Tuberculosis and viral Hepatitis) are addressed. In concert with existing approaches to related diseases, F/P/T AIDS encourages us to consider factors that create vulnerability among specific populations.

FIPIT AIDS's contribution to the entire domain of related diseases rests principally upon two factors: its reliance upon empirical evidence to create new knowledge, and its status as a discrete and effective organization:

F/P/T AIDS values empirical evidence. It creates knowledge from data that informs policy and programmatic action. It is able to integrate science and policy to create appropriate program responses to health concerns. It bridges the divide between scientists and policy-makers. The availability of evidence creates readiness among stakeholders to act.

Effectively addressing the determinants of health means working across organizational and geographic boundaries in a complex environment of competing interests and considerable ambiguity. In this context, F/P/T AIDS creates a platform for discussion and consensus whereby both beliefs and scientific facts can open many ways forward. Its effectiveness as a facilitator of knowledge and action depend upon its status as a discrete, constant and recognizable entity whose priorities are not be balanced against those of competing health concerns. Thus, the benefits that accrue from the F/P/T AIDS to all related diseases depend upon its unique standing within the PHN and the rest of the stakeholder community.

F/P/T AIDS has remained a durable and relevant organization. By studying, listening, and discussing, it has remained with, and sometimes ahead of, the many changing courses of HIV/AIDS.

Discussion

Since its inception in 1988, F/P/T AIDS has contributed a unique focal point for understanding, cooperation, and collaboration among all actors working to fight the epidemic. Its contributions, though often unheralded, have had a major impact on how the disease has been managed in each province and territoryandacrossthe nationas a whole. Moreover,as the diseaseevolvesandchanges, F/P/T AIDSis uniquely positioned to understand the changes, adapt to them, and encourage others to adjust so that stakeholders are ahead of the disease.

HIV/AIDS is but one of many diseases that concern Canadians. Historically, HIV/AIDS has remained prominent in the public eye, even as other diseases have emerged and then waned. The policy and funding priority given to HIV IAIDS over the past quarter-century has largely been a result of its widespread virulence, its appearance in virtually every demographic group, its over-representation among Aboriginal peoples, its presence in other vulnerable populations or populations most likely to be exposed to HIV, its poor health outcomes and the absence of a cure or a vaccine to prevent new infections. Some have argued that HIVIAIDS has received undue attention. Consequently, competition for scarce public and private resources has marked the context within which HIV/AIDS and other diseases have been combated.

More recently, strong arguments among policy leaders suggest that HIV/AIDS should be treated as any other chronic disease and on a level policy and funding playing field. Powerful drug cocktails have decreased both the morbidity and mortality of those infected with HIV. Given the improved health outcomes for those living with HIV/AIDS, there is a view that other diseases deserve as much, ifnot more, attention.

From a local perspective, this is certainly true. In the territories, for instance, the incidence and potential incidence of HIV/AIDS is much lower relative to other health concerns. Interestingly, what gives enduring value to F/P/T AIDS is its attention to local realities. When realities change, F/P/T AIDS can harness its knowledge and relationships to build pragmatic approaches to addressing blood-borne diseases.

The Committee's support for harm reduction among injecting drug users is an example of attention to local realities. While providing safe injection sites and clean needles is controversial, since doing so can seem to promote illegal drug use, harm reduction has proved to be an effective response to the spread of the disease among injecting drug users and their partners. The greater good to all Canadians rests in stemming the spread of the disease by providing injecting drug users with both safe sites and services to help them stop using.

Commitment

F/P/T AIDS has made the following commitments to support its strategy:

• We will offer sound and honest advice, based on evidence.
• We will avoid reducing complex problems to simple quick-fix solutions. Instead, we will make complex and ambiguous realities clear and offer the possibility for innovative responses to chalenges.
• Our initiatives address complex systems. Resistance to change is normal, but it at least demonstrates that the way forward has been carefully considered. Therefore, we will know our audience, help them to "get ready" for change, and offer compelling testimony to justify new tactics.

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