Thank you very much.
As you've just heard, I'm Dr. Eileen de Villa, medical officer of health for the City of Toronto. Thank you to the members of the committee for giving me this opportunity to address you this afternoon. I will keep my remarks very brief.
As you've heard, I'm the medical officer of health for the City of Toronto. This allows me the privilege of leading Toronto Public Health, which is Canada's largest local public health agency, looking after the almost three million people who reside in the city of Toronto.
I'm going to tell the committee a little bit about public health, as I'm not certain as to your familiarity with the field of public health. I think it's one of best-kept secrets we have.
When you look for textbook definitions of public health, what you'll often see is the description of public health as “the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society.” It's an interesting definition, technically very correct, but I find it's not particularly explanatory.
When I talk to audiences about what public health is and what it does, I try to boil it down to its main objectives. There are three major objectives of public health: first, to improve the health status of the population; second, to reduce disparities in health status; and third, and perhaps most relevant in this case, to prepare for and respond effectively to outbreaks and emergencies. Those are the three major objectives of public health.
What's interesting is that in public health, if we're successful at achieving those three objectives, by definition we achieve a fourth objective, and that's enhancing the sustainability of our health care system.
That's a bit of a primer on public health and what we do.
The other way I like to characterize public health is to describe it as that area of practice which is, to my mind and in my case, a particular branch of medical practice that looks at the entire health of the population. It takes a population health approach and focuses on prevention, so as to help ensure that people start life healthy and stay that way for as long as possible.
It is premised on a system. It actually has to be a system in order to be effective as public health. It requires a great deal of expertise. It requires a broad range of skill sets, everything from technical medical knowledge and epidemiology to an understanding of behavioural science, sociology and, yes, politics. There are a broad range of skills that are required in order to be effective in terms of public health practice, and those skills need to be resident in the various levels of government. It is a co-operative and collaborative endeavour among the local, provincial and federal levels of government, and it engages a broad range of participants, many of whom are outside of the formal health system.
What I will comment on at this stage of the game is that when we look at the novel coronavirus outbreak that we're currently facing, it's through these kinds of events that you can see very tangibly from a public perspective the value of public health, particularly in achieving that third objective: preparing for and responding effectively to outbreaks and emergencies. I think you also see the relevance of that interplay and system perspective, that there is a value and a role for the federal government and for federal public health agencies. There is a value and a role—a significant role—for the provincial health agencies, and, of course, there is a value and a role for those of us who work at the local level of government.
With that, conscious of your time, I'm going to wrap up my remarks. I'm happy to take any questions that members of the committee may have.