Results at a glance: Evaluation of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Program - 2019-2020 to 2023-2024
Table of contents
Program context
The Regulatory, Operations and Emergency Management Branch (ROEMB) leads and coordinates the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) program for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada (HC), referred as the Health Portfolio (HP). The EPR program is responsible for strengthening Canada's capacity to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, and respond to public health events and emergencies. It also maintains programming key to event detection, as well as the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) which provides medical assets to provinces and territories when requested.
The National Microbiology Laboratory Branch (NMLB) also contributes to the PHAC's emergency preparedness and response activities by maintaining an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). The NMLB-EOC is PHAC's scientific point of coordination for emergency response and day-to-day communications in infectious diseases from a laboratory perspective. The NMLB-EOC works with the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network to coordinate the national public health laboratory response.
Funding
Between 2019-20 to 2023-24, the Program, excluding NMLB-EOC activities, had a budget of $337 million for regular EPR activities. It also operated with a budget of $3.6 billion to address the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
Evaluation approach
This evaluation assessed the EPR program activities undertaken between 2019-20 and 2023-24. It examined the achievement of intended results, and efficiency of the Program. The evaluation focussed on PHAC's EPR program activities which are led by ROEMB. It also assessed NMLB-EOC activities. Many other centres with technical expertise across PHAC and HC also have activities that relate to EPR. However, the technical expertise provided by these centres in support of the EPR program is not covered by this evaluation. The activities of these centres have been and will continue to be covered in separate evaluations.
What the evaluation found
PHAC is better prepared to respond to public health events than it was five years ago. Plans and procedures have been updated, exercises have taken place and PHAC-wide emergency management (EM) mandatory training was implemented. Time-limited funding has also improved public health event detection through the broad dissemination of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network Daily Reports. Funding associated with the COVID-19 response also allowed the NESS to build a stronger capacity to deploy assets during events. In a post COVID-19 context, reviewing the NESS' mandate and strategic priorities will also help prepare an efficient response in the future.
Over the past five years, PHAC responded to multiple requests for supports and activated the Incident Management System (IMS) to coordinate response to several events. However, given the length and breadth of the COVID-19 IMS, mobilizing staff for concurrent IMS mobilizations and maintaining the surge capacity over time was challenging. ROEMB has been working with HC on a HP framework to help mobilize adequate personnel and sustain effective responses to more frequent and intense emergencies. This framework is essential to readiness and response, and its success hinges on PHAC's adoption of an EM culture highlighted by readiness, resilience, and commitment to collective response.
As PHAC is moving towards stabilization of its resources through renewal, a prioritization of key areas in EM will have to occur to support continuous system improvement and sustainability. The implementation of a cyclical approach to EM, which would include risk and capability assessments, training, regular exercises, a strong mobilization framework, regular plan updates, and timely integration of lessons learned, is needed to support system sustainability.
The findings from this evaluation resulted in three recommendations listed below. There is no recommendation directed to NESS since a comprehensive management plan was approved in May 2024 to address outstanding areas of challenges.
Recommendations
- Implement the mobilization framework and improve the rostering system.
- Promote a mobilization culture and EM training within the Agency.
- Ensure continued sustainability of the EM system by prioritizing and formalizing a cyclical approach to EM.