Public health needs you!

I came back from the recent Canadian Public Health Association annual conference in Edmonton both energized and depressed. Energized because the conference illustrated the dynamism and dedication of public health practitioners and researchers who in spite of substantial obstacles continue to advance the science and application of population health. Depressed because the meeting was an opportunity to reflect on the state of our field and it is not good. The Canadian public health system is facing its most serious challenges in over a decade. The challenges we face today come not from external threats such as SARS and water contamination, as we experienced in the early 2000s, but from ourselves. Canadian society is becoming more unequal, more divided by social class, more individualistic, less interested in achieving health and social equality and less willing to invest in or even to value the collective good. National and provincial governments are reducing investments in the public health sector and civil society. Economic and other policies threaten the environment and the health and well-being of many Canadians, while our social safety net is showing definite signs of rupture. The apparent lack of concern of our elites for the less well-off in society is disconcerting and worrisome for the very fabric of our country. First Nations people, recent immigrants, refugees, ethnic and sexual minorities and other vulnerable populations deserve our earnest efforts towards their improved health and well-being, and not the neglect that they often seem to get. The economic crisis of 2008 and the subsequent policy responses have failed to result in needed increases in funding for infrastructures and social programs to reduce inequalities and promote a more just society. We are fooling ourselves if we think that the economic crisis can be solved by decreased government spending, particularly in the social sector. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, economics is too important to be left to economists. The crisis is a crisis of values and it can only be solved through engagement of all sectors of society and through national discussion and debate about Canada’s future. This is, in effect, a challenge to our democracy. Although it may seem distant from our day-to-day public health practice, the values and principles of public and population health are of critical importance to this debate. Now more than ever, public health needs a strong voice to advocate for social justice. Public health needs us all, will we respond?