Thank you very much for the question.
In terms of whether or not there are fewer incidences, fewer cases, we do not have currently a national incidence system for FASD. However, we do have indirect measures in terms of alcohol awareness during pregnancy. So we know that at least at the first stage there are more people who are aware of the impact of alcohol during pregnancy.
What is absolutely needed...and that's why the development of an incidence system for FASD is a key piece in terms of all program planning in the future. We have basically two vehicles right now. The first one is that we have in this country a perinatal surveillance system, and already in that perinatal surveillance system there are 27 health indicators that are being collected, one of which is alcohol ingestion during pregnancy.
Secondly, we have a very important platform, which is the congenital anomalies surveillance. In Canada we are extremely privileged to have opportunities for data linkage. Basically, this surveillance system allows us to link various anomalies over a period of time from the birth registry. So in the future, what we're looking at with our colleagues in the provinces, the academic centres, the diagnostic centres is how we could register FASD in those various, I would say, administrative databases. The problem is--and that again is another very important step--accurate diagnosis. We need standardized procedures to say that this is a case of FASD.
I think the major step has been reached for Canada right now. We have these diagnostic guidelines that are key in terms of setting up any system with accurate diagnosis in the future.
So that's basically what your question is, and I'm answering in a very long-winded way.