Thank you.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee,
My name is Gail Beck. I work as a physician in Ottawa and I'm the President of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada.
The Federation of Medical Women of Canada represents Canada's women physicians, and we are honoured to have been invited to participate in your pre-budget consultations.
For this budget we are asking that the committee consider some recommendations that will fall into the realm of preventative medicine. We know you're interested in productivity, and we feel that preventing illness is the way to keep people well and able to do the tasks to which they're best suited.
In the brief we have prepared, which I am assuming is in your kits, our first set of recommendations relates to public health measures. One is for an education campaign directed toward young people regarding healthy lifestyles to combat the epidemic of obesity in Canada's children. We are looking at the very successful campaign, the anti-smoking campaign, that the federal government had. There is evidence that this was effective in convincing young people not to smoke, so we believe a similar campaign asking them to look at healthy lifestyles will also have an impact on their health in the long run.
We also know that at this time the immunization program is up for renewal, so we are asking for federal funding of vaccines, and in particular, new vaccines. We've been discussing in particular the release of the vaccine against human papillomavirus, and I want to read an excerpt from our president-elect, Dr. Janet Dollin.
I feel privileged to be a family medicine practitioner at this time- to be a witness to the beginning of the HPV vaccine program. I feel that this will ultimately be another medical revolution that will change the face of cancer and of medical services in Canada and internationally. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, and HPV is implicated in over 99% of these cancers.
While the need to suppress secondary effects of HPV vs the need to eradicate HPV altogether will be debated, I would caution us to address this infection as one that is important to both men and women, thus the need to include both in any strategy. Clearly we need a national strategy which is informed by our diversity.
Our second set of recommendations is a request to recognize gender as a determinant of health.
We are asking that gender analysis be an integral part of all new Health Canada program development.
Such analysis ensures that projects reflect the needs of all Canadians from the get-go.
Finally, we have seen how the House Standing Committee on the Status of Women and the expert panel on accountability mechanisms for gender equality have both made recommendations for Status of Women Canada that have never been operationalized. We are asking the Government of Canada to fund these recommendations. Our brief explains our recommendations more fully.
I am happy to address any questions you may have, either now or at a later date through the office of the federation.
Thank you.