Partners in Public Health - Summary Report

Principles for an Agreement on Mutual Aid During an Emergency

The Network will be empowered, through pre-established public health agreements, to act in an orderly and coordinated manner during times of emergency to ensure a functional and timely public health response (see Section 6 and Appendix A for details on the proposed Principles for an Agreement on Mutual Aid During an Emergency). The Network will report to the Conference of F/P/T Deputy Ministers, as appropriate, on actions taken.

The Network will support public health collaboration and coordination during emergencies, through the sharing of information in real time, and by being available to assist the local public health authority through the sharing of resources and expertise, where appropriate and possible.

The sharing of resources through public health agreements will be most effective if centrally accessible. For example, the Network could develop a database of public health resources that could be made available, whether on a regular basis or in a time of emergency.

The goal of this approach to mutual aid is to enable any jurisdiction to request assistance and expertise from other jurisdictions during a public health emergency in a timely, effi cient and responsive manner. When public health emergencies arise across the country, the aim is to respond efficiently and swiftly to surge capacity demands on public health systems and health resources.

• recognition that F/P/T governments have varying degrees of public health capacity and that collaboration could be benefi cial when a jurisdiction is unable to manage by itself during an emergency or public health crisis;
• that sharing existing capacity and resources is a more effi cient and effective way to provide surge capacity that results in little to no duplication in resources nor activities;
• that F/P/T governments can support one another, facilitated through the Public Health Network, to assist any jurisdiction(s) dealing with a public health event/crisis that is beyond its capacity;
• that each jurisdiction can establish the procedures necessary to provide assistance to others during public health emergencies, and enable emergency responders from a responding jurisdiction to be treated the same way for legal licensing purposes as emergency responders in the jurisdiction that made the request; and,
• that the provision of assistance will not endanger or severely limit public health capacity in any jurisdiction providing assistance.

These principles of an Agreement on Mutual Aid During an Emergency defi ne the manner in which governments will provide assistance to one another during a public health emergency; the goal being to prevent a local system from being overwhelmed by an event, then there is a robust, seamless and organized response from the local, provincial, territorial and federal levels ready to be called upon. The proposed approaches to providing mutual aid during an emergency in the health sector are consistent with existing bilateral and multilateral frameworks/ arrangements for assistance in times of emergency.

The need for multilateral F/P/T collaboration in public health exists because of the policy interdependence inherent in the provision of public health services. Moreover, the desired outcome of a responsive, effi cient and high quality public health system requires collaboration among and between all governments, when and as appropriate.

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