Health committee  I will do that. That will make it much easier.

Health committee  Okay. I'm going to take all of that information back and table a response with the committee.

Health committee  My pleasure.

Health committee  I would say we are about average if we compare with World Health Organization statistics. Again, comparisons are difficult to make, because people count these things differently.

Health committee  At the federal level, we have the integrated strategy on healthy living and chronic disease. That strategy addresses healthy living across the lifespan. It includes a specific emphasis on seniors--for instance, in the area of falls prevention. It focuses on cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, these illnesses being the major causes of death and disability, and it focuses on addressing risk factors like physical inactivity, poor nutrition, overweight and obesity, and smoking.

Health committee  It's a simple question with a not so simple answer. What I would say is that about five years ago, the neurological health charities came to us at the Public Health Agency of Canada and said “We really need information. We really need this neurological longitudinal study to understand what's happening in Canada and to understand what we need to be doing going forward.”

Health committee  Certainly the results of that study are going to be foundational to decisions about what we need to do going forward.

Health committee  That would be great. Thank you so much.

Health committee  For chronic disease we have a number of surveillance systems in place. We have paid a lot of attention to them in terms of integrating them so that we get information on not only the disease outcomes themselves but also the risk factors for the disease and some of the conditions that are important to developing disease as well.

Health committee  It's hard to make comparisons with other countries, because oftentimes the way we count chronic diseases will differ. Generally speaking, however, our rates of chronic diseases are comparable with other developed countries, such as the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. We don't know what the rates of chronic diseases are like in developing countries, because they don't have the infrastructure to do surveillance at all, but in general the developing countries are seeing rates grow at about the same pace.

Health committee  Thank you very much for those excellent questions. I think we're all struggling with the issues you've talked about. Let me address the neurological health population study and what it can tell us. The study will look at impact and will project impact out over the next 20 years.

Health committee  No, it is not.

Health committee  Thank you so much. First, I want to start by thanking the committee for inviting us here today. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is for the Public Health Agency of Canada to come to this room and to speak with you and to share with you many of the things we are doing in the agency, working across the country to address chronic disease and specifically to address chronic disease and aging.

Health committee  I believe at your meeting next week you'll hear more detail on physical activity and what we're doing in that regard. For now, suffice it to say that the ministers of health at the federal-provincial-territorial level work with their counterparts in sport, physical activity, and recreation.

Health committee  Amateur sport.