Education and Research in Community Health in Canada

Abstract

OMMUNITY health is concerned with health and illness in populations, with health behavior and promotion, and with health services utilization. Data obtained from the community are used to inform and influence e ~ qhealth policy, implement community-based programs, and assist in patient management. Where can the diverse knowledge and skills which community health practitioners and researchers require be obtained in Canada? Current university programs, regardless of their quality, are not coordinated and do not systematically address Canadian community health personnel and research needs. Individual community health programs presently located in Faculties of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry and Management serve and should continue to serve an essential but complementary role. They capture individual and institutional expertise, train specialized professionals and researchers, and provide community health input into undergraduate medical, nursing and dental curricula. However, these programs are not substitutes for a comprehensive school of community or public health. Such schools in the United States and Europe fulfill broad mandates. Most have full or substantial national and/or state support and subsidy and serve as national teaching, research, and service resources in community health. The Schools of Hygiene in Toronto and Montreal were absorbed into their respective Faculties of Medicine in the 1970S. While this change addressed the issue of isolation, it placed a field which is made up of many different health professions under medical sponsorship. To return to isolated unsupported Schools of Hygiene would be to turn back the clock, but to fail to provide an environment for coordinated population-