May 2015
The Government of Canada is providing the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) with almost $4.3 million over five years to develop a coordinated national approach for the monitoring and surveillance of prescription drug abuse (PDA).
CIHI was created in 1994 to forge a common approach to Canadian health information by providing essential data on Canada’s health system and the health of Canadians. CIHI provides leadership in the development of data standards along with a broad range of indicators, evidence-based reports and analyses that help healthcare managers, governments and Canadians in their day-to-day decision-making.
This funding will support CIHI in the ongoing efforts to address the growing concern of prescription drug abuse. CIHI will work with the provinces, territories and other stakeholders. The prescription drug abuse work will include:
- developing and enhancing data and information;
- contributing to analysis and synthesis of data and information; and
- contributing to, and distributing, a national report on surveillance.
This work aims to improve national data and information. The improved quality and quantity of comparable PDA data could then be integrated with existing CIHI data to enhance the ability of all levels of government and stakeholders to identify trends and respond to issues of concern.
