Women's Health Surveillance: A Plan of Action for Health Canada

Women's Health Surveillance
A Plan of Action for Health Canada
A Report from the Advisory Committee on Women's Health Surveillance
(681 KB) in PDF Format

Letter of transmittal

Ottawa
August 15, 1999

Dear Dr. Shannon

In reaching our present level of understanding of women's health, results from studies of men have often been inappropriately generalized to women. Not only are women biologically different from men, they also usually differ in the roles and life contexts assigned to them by their particular social settings. As a result, there are important differences between women and men in relation to susceptibility, detection, most effective treatment and other aspects of health conditions.

To improve the health of women, we need to find out the root causes of loss of health - whether genetic, biologic, social, cultural, economic or some combination of these and other factors - and establish a feedback system that lets us move steadily in the direction of more effective prevention, detection and treatment strategies.

The Laboratory Centre for Disease Control (LCDC) has challenged us to provide advice on how such a surveillance system should operate: its issues, priorities, methodologies and potential partnerships in matters of women's health surveillance.

We have divided this work into two tasks. The first is to describe the characteristics of the kind of women's health surveillance system we believe is needed and provide concrete examples of health issues and how they would be handled in such a system. The second task is to see what data are available, what analytic model would be most appropriate, which partners would be needed and what plan of action would permit LCDC to move in the recommended direction most rapidly and effectively.

A series of national consultations were undertaken with experts, researchers and frontline workers. Such a range of participants sometimes leads to counter-productive polarization along researcher-practitioner, social-medical or other axes. This is not what we encountered: the diversity on these occasions resulted in lively debate, a positive atmosphere and a remarkable degree of convergence in thinking. As described in this report, a broad consensus developed around the need for a paradigm shift in surveillance if it is to have a significant impact on the health of women. There was also considerable agreement on how to ensure that the priorities for surveillance remain responsive to changing needs.

Discussions were stimulating, passionate, rich in detail and broad. I would like to thank the members of the Advisory Committee for their wonderful teamwork and their invaluable expertise. My thanks also go to Dr. Elizabeth Dickson, rapporteur for Workshop I. She made every effort to capture the first workshop's major findings so that they could inform the work of the second and third workshops, and as well the Committee's deliberations in taking on the second task - how to put these ideas into action. The reporting from the second and third workshops was done by Caren Uhlik of LCDC; her assistance has been much appreciated. The Committee also greatly benefited from the administrative help of Nicole Cleroux and Brenda Racicot of LCDC. Throughout this project they remained most pleasant, patient and calm, despite the usual last minute crises. Their attention and devotion were unsurpassed. As for Dawn Fowler, my personal thanks for her work on keeping us focused on surveillance while we often wanted to reform and design an entire new system for women's health!

Enclosed are our recommendations and our report, completed by three appendices covering, respectively, each of our three national workshops. To paraphrase the welcoming commissionaire of the Banting building at the last workshop: "They are here for the ladies' issues!"

The Honourable Monique Bégin, PC, FRSC, OC
Chair
Advisory Committee on Women's Health Surveillance

Subject: Women's Health Surveillance: A Plan of Action for Health Canada. A Report from the Advisory Committee on Women's Health Surveillance.

Dear Mme Bégin and Advisory Committee Members:

I would like to thank you for your excellent and timely report on Women's Health Surveillance, and for your fruitful efforts on this important initiative. The Laboratory Centre for Disease Control is committed to establishing a comprehensive Women's Health Surveillance System in Canada. In fact, LCDC has recently undertaken a number of activities relating to the recommendations presented in the report, in particular with respect to enhancing cancer, mental health and diabetes surveillance.

Within the next year, LCDC plans on further strengthening its capacity for women's health surveillance and gender-based analysis. The Committee's recommendations will be instrumental in achieving this goal.

I look forward to further collaboration on this important endeavor.

Yours truly,

Dr. M. E. Shannon
Director General

Women's Health Surveillance
A Plan of Action for Health Canada
A Report from the Advisory Committee on Women's Health Surveillance
(681 KB) in PDF Format