Healthy Canadians: A Healthier World

At PHAC, our work continues the long, proud tradition of public health victories in Canada. Such Canadian triumphs range from clean drinking-water initiatives and small pox eradication to today's HPV vaccine programs that protect thousands of Canadian women from contracting cancer. In response to the SARS outbreak in 2003, PHAC has built a national emergency preparedness and response program that affirms Canada as a world leader in public health practice.

Collective efforts to advance our collective health

Adopting a balanced and nutritious diet, quitting smoking, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, reducing stress and exercising regularly are all simple ways we can make positive health changes as individual Canadians. Even the simple act of thorough hand washing can greatly improve our overall wellness by preventing the spread of nfectious disease.

Research clearly shows, however, that we must go beyond mere behavioural change. To affect significant and lasting improvements, we must build on the impact of our individual efforts. We must work together in our communities and at the national level to address the social and economic determinants that give rise to ill health: poverty, illiteracy, environments that limit opportunities for exercise, poor access to fresh foods, inequalities in our health system.

Of 58 million deaths worldwide in 2005, approximately 35 million were the result of chronic diseases.

Mobilizing nationwide expertise

PHAC is at the forefront of a societal effort that will ensure Canadians experience the full economic and social benefits of improved health.

Our partnerships with Health Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network, the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health and other federal and provincial stakeholders reach across jurisdictions to mobilize the skills and capabilities of experts from coast to coast.

Statistics reinforce the potential benefit of our collective efforts. We have an opportunity to reduce the tens of billions of dollars lost each year due to loss of productivity associated with premature mortality in Canada. A healthier population also reduces the burden on our healthcare system, resulting in better quality and more timely care for those who truly need it.

PHAC is committed to understanding and communicating the root causes of poor health. How we shape our environment--where and how we live, work and play-- profoundly affects our health and understanding what we can do as a society to improve the fundamental conditions for health for all Canadians is what drives PHAC’s health promotion and chronic disease prevention branch. The goal: a strong, prosperous society in which education, shelter, food, income and the environment serve to underpin, rather than undermine, our collective health.