Report: The first five years of the Public Health Surveillance Unit
A new report, highlighting the first five years of the Public Health Surveillance Unit (PHSU) is now available, providing insight into the work the unit does and how it supports programs and partners in delivering health service improvements and gains in population health status.
In 2007, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) lacked the dedicated resources and expertise to fully undertake the critical functions of population health assessment and disease surveillance. With the 2010 Winter Olympics on the horizon, and expectations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) for a world-class public health surveillance system in VCH, the Office of the Chief Medical Health Officer established the Public Health Surveillance Unit (PHSU).
As a unique entity among health authorities in BC, the mandate for the unit is to support VCH’s overall goal of promoting better health for our communities. This preventive goal is achieved in part through the provision of the best possible information on health and the determinants of health, through disease surveillance, health assessment, epidemiological investigations and knowledge transfer.
The unit’s integrated approach to disease surveillance, health assessment, and evaluation activities has allowed us to build on existing resources and develop capacity to maintain systems that are efficient, sustainable and meeting the goals of a broad range of stakeholders.
Three years later in 2010, Accreditation Canada recognized the unit as an innovative and leading practice in public health having met and exceeded its primary goals of providing world-class, real time surveillance during the Olympic Games, developing an injury surveillance system, and provide expertise and support for public health practice.
Today, the unit continues it stewardship responsibilities of population health monitoring with effective and timely public health surveillance that informs the control, reduction and prevention of diseases and determinants that impact health and well-being.