Panel delivers final report on independent review of Global Public Health Intelligence Network

Minister of Health publishes final report from the review panel

OTTAWA, ON, July 12, 2021 /CNW/ - In November 2020, the Minister of Health announced an independent panel would pursue the review of the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC) Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN). Today, the Minister of Health released the panel's final report.

The panel considered the current state of GPHIN's capabilities, services, operations, and management. They conducted interviews with more than 55 individuals, including GPHIN analysts, former and current PHAC employees, provincial officials, international partners, and technical experts from both the public and private sector.

The final report from this review offers recommendations to prepare for future health events and improve public health surveillance tools at PHAC. The report includes specific recommendations to improve GPHIN operations and engagement with public health partners, and offers considerations to better integrate PHAC's surveillance and risk assessment programs to better position the Agency to identify and respond to future health events that could affect Canadians.

These recommendations will inform the work underway at PHAC to review its processes and identify improvements, and to clarify and streamline the decision-making process for the issuance of GPHIN products, including alerts. The report will also inform work to respond to the GPHIN recommendation from the Auditor General from "Report 8 – Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance, and Border Control Measures."

This important work builds on the investments made by the Government of Canada to protect the health and safety of all Canadians and support the response to COVID-19. PHAC received $690.7 million over two years in the Fall 2020 Economic Statement to strengthen PHAC's response and surge capacity, and has welcomed more than 1,000 new employees to bolster its capacity in a number of critical areas.

Quotes

"This independent review was initiated to identify what changes are required to keep Canada well positioned to detect and respond to future public health events. I want to thank Margaret Bloodworth, Dr. Mylaine Breton and Dr. Paul Gully for their recommendations to improve Canada's global public health surveillance system. It is critical that the lessons learned from our response to the pandemic help improve the tools in place to protect Canadians."

The Honourable Patty Hajdu
Minister of Health

Quick Facts

• The panel members, Margaret Bloodworth, Dr. Mylaine Breton and Dr. Paul Gully, were selected based on their expertise in public health, governance, health security and intelligence.
• The final report from this independent review includes 36 recommendations relating to:
• the role and purpose of GPHIN, including articulating its role and functions as part of PHAC's public health surveillance activities, extending its partnerships and subscriber outreach, and regularly evaluating its processes and products;
• organizational considerations and flow of information, including establishing a new Risk Assessment Office at PHAC, linking GPHIN to PHAC's broader surveillance activities and training and recruiting GPHIN staff; and
• technology, such as incorporation of additional social media and other new sources of data, platform improvements, and advice on the next generation of public health intelligence systems.

Associated Links

Final report on the GPHIN Review
Interim report from the GPHIN External Review Panel
Independent review of GPHIN
GPHIN Review Terms of Reference 
Biographies of panellists

SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada