Ontario Public Health Standards released
The new Ontario Public Health Standards have been published and sent to all of the province’s 36 boards of health. The standards establish the minimum requirements for fundamental public health programs and services, which include assessment and surveillance, health promotion and policy development, disease and injury prevention and health protection.
The public health standards are available in full, along with 26 protocols, online at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s website. These standards will replace the Mandatory Health Programs and Services Guidelines, 1997, as of Jan. 1, 2009.
In a letter announcing the standards, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams said they “reflect a vision for the delivery of mandatory public health programs and services which is intended to achieve provincial consistency where required, while fostering local-level responsiveness and flexibility where appropriate.”
The publication of the standards is the culmination of two years of work between government and the public health field.