Ministry Reports

Working Together to Build a Stronger Public Health System

2007 Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer of Health to the Ontario Legislative Assembly

November 20, 2008

Dr. Williams' annual report reviews Operation Health Protection, the three-year action plan to improve public health that was launched by the government in 2004. Key accomplishments of Operation Health Protection include:

• Improvements to the province's capacity to deal with infectious and communicable diseases
• The creation of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion
• Investments in the renewal of the Ontario Public Health Laboratories
• Improvements to health emergency preparedness and response through the creation of the Emergency Management Unit in the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

At the same time, Dr. Williams called on the government to address the issue of leadership vacancies in the public health system and to respond to the recommendations of the Capacity Review Committee. The Capacity Review Committee was established as part of Operation Health Protection to examine capacity issues at the local public health unit level. The committee's final report was released in May 2006 and made 50 recommendations to strengthen local health units.

The full report is available for download in PDF format, below :

Full Report
Working Together to Build a Stronger Public Health System
36 pages | 1.3 Mb | PDF format

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