News Release

Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Launches New Assessment on Canada’s Strategic Role in Global Health

Ottawa (October 1st, 2010) – The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) has launched a new major assessment entitled "Canada’s Strategic Role in Global Health". Enhancing global health and ensuring strategic investments in health research has become a priority for many industrialized countries. Canada is a significant player investing ~$500 million a year in global health, yet a concerted effort to analyze its strategic investments or policy choices – such as those done in the U.S. and U.K. - has not been done in Canada.

To this end, the CAHS has asked the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) to manage the process for an evidence-based assessment on Canada’s current role in global health, to assess its comparative advantage in the context of global health needs and to articulate a rationale for Canada to play a more significant role in global health leadership.

“The CAHS is very pleased to be undertaking this assessment with the management expertise of the CCA”, says Catharine Whiteside, President of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. “In order to understand Canada’s current role in global health and to build a vision for the future, such an assessment must undergo an intellectually rigorous, disciplined and independent process, as is the general practice of both our organizations.”

Comprised of experts from a variety of fields related to global health, including epidemiology, public health, international development, ethics and economics, the panel will convene for its first meeting in early December to consult with a number of experts in the field and agree on the structure of the report. The assessment will be chaired by Peter A. Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada and Director of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, University Health Network and University of Toronto.

“Canadians are rightfully proud of our historical role in the world as peacekeepers and honest brokers, and our recent leadership on the world stage by hosting the Olympics, G8 and G20 meetings. ” says Dr. Singer. “We can also lead in global health by sharing our innovative spirit – in science, health systems, and social determinants -- and engaging more deeply with low and middle income countries.”

For a complete list of the panel members, please refer to page 3 of this news release.

Sponsorship for the assessment is provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, sanofi pasteur, and the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health.

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About the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
The CAHS is an independent, non-profit organization composed of selected members from diverse disciplines. It is both an honorific membership and a policy research organization. The Academy’s Fellows, elected on the basis of their professional achievement and commitment to service, are volunteers who commit their time and expertise to provide assessments and advice on difficult public policy challenges of concern to all Canadians in the area of health and health care. It is Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. Institute of Medicine. For information please visit the website at www.cahs-acss.ca.

About the Council of Canadian Academies
The Council of Canadian Academies is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that began operation in 2005. The Council supports evidence-based, expert assessments (studies) to inform public policy development in Canada. Assessments are conducted by independent, multidisciplinary panels of experts from across Canada and abroad. The Council’s blue-ribbon panels serve free of charge and many are Fellows of the Council’s Member Academies: the RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada; the Canadian Academy of Engineering; and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. The Council’s reports are published and made available to the public free of charge in English and French. For information please visit the Council’s website at www.scienceadvice.ca.

For more information contact:
Dr. John Cairns
Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Chair of the CAHS Standing Committee on Assessments
604.875.4111 x66708
JACairns@medd.med.ubc.ca

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The Expert Panel on Canada’s Strategic Role in Global Health
Peter Singer (Chair), FRSC, FCAHS
Lorne Babiuk, O.C., FRSC, FCAHS
Jennifer Brenner
Lorna Jean Edmonds
Tim Evans
Michael Hayden, FRSC, FCAHS
Jody Heymann
Prabhat Jha
Aleksandra Leligdowicz
Anita McGahan
James Orbinski, O.C.
Jeff Reading, FCAHS
Allan Ronald, O.C., FRSC, FCAHS
Nelson Sewankambo
Peter Tugwell, FCAHS