Equity Aspects of Canadian Immunization Programs: Differences within and between countries

Authors

  • Mirella Veras Center for Global Health, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Canada.
  • David Zakus Director, Global Health Division of Community Engagement Professor, Division of Community and Occupational Health Department of Medicine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/hcs.2011.45

Keywords:

immunization, population, canada, human rights, community health, health policy

Abstract

There is a global recognition that immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions which should be available to everyone.  The equity approach to immunization provides a holistic and integrated framework for addressing inequalities and disproportions in the realization of human rights. The aim of this study is to review the performance of the immunization programs in Canada through an equity lens using two analytical frameworks for immunization programs. It focuses on four elements of the programs: a) the burden of disease; b) immunization strategy; c) ability to evaluate; and d) research questions.  To achieve universal access to vaccination, Canada should have a strong connection with human rights, where realities and outreach need to be prioritized. Preventable diseases such as influenza, H1N1, and varicella have been reported specifically in Aboriginal Canadians, immigrants and refugees. Our study seeks to demonstrate that access to vaccines should be considered one of the most vital human rights and as a matter of fundamental intervention to achieve health equity.

Author Biographies

Mirella Veras, Center for Global Health, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Mirella Veras is currently a doctoral researcher in Population Health and in Health Services and Policy Research, the Ontario Training Centre, at the University of Ottawa.  She holds extensive knowledge and professional research degrees in Public Health (epidemiology) from the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil. Dr. Veras has trained in a multi-disciplinary residency programs in family health at the State University of Vale do Acarau in Sobral, Brazil, and has specialized training in Activation Processes of Change in Higher Education for health professionals from the National School of Public Health  ENSP/FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Dr. Veras has worked in primary health care in Brazil for eight years in the Department of Primary Care, for the Ministry of Health, Brazil, and as a consultant for the Pan American Health Organization. Additionally, she worked as a professor at the Medical School at the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil.  In Primary Health Care, she has worked at the local and federal levels. At the local level, Dr Veras was responsible for a projects  in Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and was the manager of the  decentralized health area as well  as the coordinator for The Nuclei of Integrated Care in Family Health Programs.  At the federal level, she was directly involved in research projects in primary health care and performed epidemiological analyses on the efficiency of Family Health Strategy. Her current research in Canada will assess health medical residents’ knowledge of Global Health and Health Equity, in the aim to refine and improve health care services in Ontario.  Other major research interests include health disparities, global health, primary health care,  knowledge translation, medical education, systematic review and health policy.

David Zakus, Director, Global Health Division of Community Engagement Professor, Division of Community and Occupational Health Department of Medicine

David Zakus, BSc, MES, MSc, PhD is currently Director of Global Health in the Division of Community Engagement and Professor in the Division of Community and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta in Edmonton. Previous to this he worked for two years in Ottawa (2009-11) as Director of Global Health and the Canadian International Immunization Initiative (P3) at the Canadian Public Health Association and at the International Development Research Centre as a Senior Health Specialist (Health Systems). Previous to that he was at the University of Toronto as Associate Professor of Health Management and Public Health and the founding director of the Centre for International Health in the Faculty of Medicine (2000-2009). Before that he worked in various capacities in global health, including: President and CEO of Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR, Toronto); Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for International Nursing Development and Director of International Health at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto; and as a consultant with various bilateral and multilateral organizations and NGOs.  His first work overseas was as a nutritionist in rural Honduras (1979-81) and has had other long term experiences in Ethiopia, Mexico, China and Uruguay, and has worked in some 25 other countries.  The main areas of his current work are in China, Cambodia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America in health services organization, policy and reform, human resources development, education and primary health care.

David was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, earned a BSc in biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan (1975), a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies (MES) at York University, Toronto (1978), and an MSc (1987) and PhD (1992) in community health/health services management in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

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Published

2011-10-12

Issue

Vol 1, No 1 (2011): PERSPECTIVES

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