Public health has been at the center of the news for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has a daily impact even when Quebec is not experiencing a crisis.
“What I am sure of is that people are going to be tired of hearing about public health in the form of the coronavirus,” believes Dr. Luc Boileau, acting national director of public health for Quebec.
Public health, however, is not solely concerned with infectious diseases.
“It’s all that determines the health of a population. So we have behaviors like our lifestyle, our ways of eating, our ways of acting, our ways of being, our ways of keeping fit. The way our roads are built, the way our schools operate,” explains Dr. Boileau.
“In areas as important as those of mental health, the promotion of health in the school environment, in the development of toddlers…”, adds Dr. André Dontigny, director of public health for the Capitale- National.
For Dr. Alain Poirier, national director of public health in Estrie, a good way to illustrate the work of public health is with tobacco.
“Tobacco is a cursed gang of cancer. However, it is not so much in the doctor’s office that we settle this, it is with the tobacco tax, ”he says.
Dr. Poirier believes that healthy policies are fundamental to public health.
“We lost sight of it a little because, there, we are interested in a virus, and even this virus makes us adopt measures which, precisely, harm other aspects of life”, estimates doctor.
The public health department has grown from 73 employees in 2016 to 177 in 2022, a slight increase over last year.
Prevention was not the area that received the most investment.
The WHO suggests that governments dedicate 5% of their health budget to public health. In Quebec, we are talking about 468 million out of 44 billion.
“There was a massive clawback, an extra permanent, recurring $100 million that came in. That does a lot of good and it shows. It is mainly focused on COVID at the moment, but it will be able to be used for other purposes and that is encouraging,” says Dr. Boileau.
At the end of the crisis, it will be necessary to return to work in order to maintain and even increase life expectancy.
“COVID came to slow down this momentum. There is a way to get it back. We do not have a choice. We must be able to count on an improvement in the health of our people and ensure that the aging weight of a population is not seen as a burden,” says Dr. Boileau.