Results at a glance: Evaluation of the PHAC’s activities for the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease and Action Plan

On this page

• Program context
• Evaluation approach
• What the evaluation found
• Recommendations

Program context

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) published the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease and accompanying Action Plan in 2017 and it identified 10 public health actions to prevent and reduce the risk of Lyme disease, grouped under 3 pillars: surveillance, education and awareness, and guidelines and best practices.

PHAC's activities for the Framework and Action Plan are delivered by the Centre for Foodborne, Environmental and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (CFEZID) and the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML).

Evaluation approach

To conduct the evaluation, OAE collected information from various sources, including key informant interviews with internal and external stakeholders, a stakeholder survey, and a review of internal and public documents. Evaluation findings will feed into parliamentary reporting requirements specified in section 6 of the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act.

Evaluation method

• Survey
• Data analysis
• Web analytics
• Key informant interviews
• Performance data review
• Document and file review

What the evaluation found

• PHAC has made progress on implementing several items in the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease and Action Plan, building on activities in place before the Federal Framework was developed.
• In some areas, implementation has been slower due to lack of consensus about the appropriate role of the Agency, differing views on the best ways to consider and meet the needs of those with lived experience with Lyme disease, and lack of dedicated funding. The COVID-19 pandemic further disrupted these activities.
• Many of PHAC's traditional partners in the scientific community and other federal, provinces, and territorial partners reported generally positive impacts of PHAC's activities across the three pillars while identifying opportunities to expand and improve work in the future.
• Conversely, patient advocates saw an urgent unmet need in the areas of surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment for Lyme disease, particularly for individuals who do not fit the case definition; a need which they feel is not adequately addressed by the scope of the Framework itself.
• PHAC has participated in direct engagement with patient advocacy groups, including involvement in patient roundtables and multidisciplinary stakeholder meetings covering a range of issues. However, the focus of most solicitation for input from these stakeholders has been largely related to education and awareness activities. Those who participated in engagement felt it positively affected PHAC's Framework activities. At the same time, there are still opportunities for improvement to effectively engage with patient advocates and people with lived experience of Lyme disease.
• While the Framework itself only continues until 2022, consideration should be given to potential enhancements to PHAC's ongoing Lyme and tick-borne diseases activities based on evaluation findings.

Recommendations

1. Focus on implementing the action items that are still in the early stages, or for which more needs to be done to achieve full implementation.
2. Work to implement more timely and dynamic surveillance tools.
3. Enhance efforts to promote and disseminate awareness and education materials and guidance to existing and new knowledge users, including health professionals.
4. Consider enhancements to engagement processes and partnerships with patient advocacy groups related to tick-borne disease activities, as these continue beyond the completion of the Federal Framework. This may include clearly communicating actions that result from the engagement, and setting clearly defined roles and expectations for all participants.

Related links

• Evaluation of PHAC's activities for the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease and Action Plan