Tweet on #OneHealth: There is no public health, seniors health, animal health, women's health, minority health, environmental health, etc.--it is all One Health. We need to see it that way.
I live in Toronto. @epdevilla as Medical Office officer of @TOPublicHealth looks out for me. @PublicHealthON is an arm's length agency that provides provincial scientific guidance and data, but doesn't issue policy. Dr. David Williams is Provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health
They all have different accountabilities, data systems, etc I haven't even touched Ministry of Long-Term Care, who oversee LTC facilities, but outbreaks managed by municipal public health units. Oh, and hospitals ... they have their own Infection Prevention and Control Programs
The govt appears to be rapidly trying to correct all of this absolute mess. It is a mess of data and data systems (and their governance), accountabilities and responsibilities, and who really has control of the ship. It looks (to me--not an insider) that it is gradually improving
But the historical problems and barriers are so massive that it will take time to fix. When is the time to fix them? Now. Starting with (IMHO) giving @PublicHealthON more resources and power, to be truly responsible for setting the public's health with a #OneHealth approach.
How this all fits with the even less powerful and resourced Public Health Agency of Canada (@GovCanHealth), led scientifically by @CPHO_Canada but which also has a bureaucratic President Tina Namiesnowski, is even more complicated. It all requires plenty of negotiation & collab.
Did I mention Indigenous Health yet? Refugees? Prison System? Armed forces? Yup--all different.
This is such a mess, and when times are good nobody is interested in fixing. Let's hope it gets rapidly corrected en route to the anticipated second wave in the fall. And they don't design it just for the episodic viral pandemics, but opioid crisis, antimicrobial resistance, etc.
If I could some it all up in one word: Oy! The only people who can really make this change are the public/voters. Otherwise, nothing will happen. They need to treat Public Health and One Health as top priorities for a functioning society.
*sum
