Breaking the deadlock: public health policy coordination as the next step.

ABSTRACT

Recent public health crises have revealed the extent to which coordinated government activity is crucial for ensuring the efficacy of public policies aimed at protecting, maintaining and improving the health of the population. The need for coherent and effective interventions in many areas of human activity always comes up against the challenges related to the division of responsibilities, power and jurisdictions inherent in public administration. The recently initiated renewal of public health structures in Canada opens up new possibilities for public health and could foster better coordination of public health efforts. This paper shows, however, that the eventual broadening of the traditional mandate of Canadian public health to include the social (non-medical) aspects of health and the articulation of healthy public policies requires intervention at the central policy level. We offer practical observations about the need to foster better policy coordination across sectors of governments, with a view to contributing to the emergence of a comprehensive public health policy in Canada.