Public Health Agency of Canada’s 2025-26 Departmental Plan: At a glance

Planned spending: $405,030,363

Planned human resources: 651

Departmental results:

• Result 1.1: Canadians have improved physical and mental health
• Result 1.2: Canadians have improved health behaviours
• Result 1.3: Chronic diseases are prevented

In 2025-26, PHAC will invest in programs that promote positive health behaviours and improve the overall health and well-being for pregnant women and people, children, and their families. The Agency will also improve its Indigenous early learning and childcare programs through proactive governance initiatives and capacity-building endeavors.

PHAC will support the mental health of Canadians and strengthen suicide prevention measures by supporting innovative and community-based intervention projects aimed at encouraging positive mental health as well as reducing systemic barriers for priority populations susceptible to mental health inequities. The Agency will expand the reach of programs that address the underlying determinants of mental health, including anti-Black racism.

In terms of disease-specific programs, PHAC will advance the implementation of Canada's national dementia strategy, support a number of community-based projects for dementia, as well as two dementia-related projects with the World Health Organization (WHO). Furthermore, PHAC will conduct ongoing autism public health surveillance, and support the development of a new National Autism Network to coordinate efforts to address key autism priorities.

To improve health behaviours and prevent chronic diseases, the Agency will strengthen programming to prevent family violence and its health outcomes by funding organizations to deliver, test, and build the evidence base on effective health promotion interventions. In addition, PHAC will lead work on the prevention of substance-related harms by funding community programs that promote overall health and well-being, prevent substance-related harms, and help Canadians in making informed decisions about their substance use. Finally, the Agency will encourage healthy living behaviours that prevent chronic diseases by promoting public health messaging on the benefits of physical activity for all age groups, fund interventions that address behavioural risk factors for chronic diseases, and work with stakeholders to take action, such as by addressing diabetes.

More information about Health promotion and chronic disease prevention can be found in the full plan.

Planned spending: $935,835,651

Planned human resources: 1,303

Departmental results:

• Result 2.1: Infectious diseases are prevented and controlled
• Result 2.2: Infectious disease outbreaks and threats are prepared for and responded to effectively

To prevent and control infectious diseases, the Agency will work to increase vaccination rates and help to close the gap among populations with lower vaccine uptake by promoting the benefits of vaccination, providing accurate unbiased information to counteract misinformation, increasing equitable and timely access to vaccines, and supporting community-driven initiatives. PHAC will also inform provincial and territorial decision-making on vaccination policies and programs and bridge Indigenous perspectives in national vaccine guidance.

In addition, the Agency will fund community projects to provide prevention, testing, treatment, and care services for STBBI in a culturally-safe and stigma-free setting to reduce the health impacts of STBBI. Moreover, PHAC will reduce the emergence and spread of AMR in humans by developing a national AMR research strategy, strengthening AMR surveillance, promoting prudent and responsible antimicrobial prescriptions and use, and securing access to new antimicrobial drugs. PHAC will also be leading pan-Canadian efforts to modernize standardized approaches for public health data collection, sharing, and utilization, and make public health research and data open by design and by default in efforts to modernize public health data and increase data availability. The Agency will lead monitoring and surveillance activities and support education and awareness activities to inform Canadians of the risks, prevention, and control methods of climate-sensitive infectious diseases.

To detect, prepare for, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and public health events, PHAC will continue to enhance and integrate surveillance by implementing, improving, and expanding upon its available tools and platforms to more effectively process public health data, eliminate manual processes and duplication, as well as make systems even more interoperable. PHAC will lead the coordination and development of Canada's Pandemic Preparedness Plan. The Agency will also leverage laboratory science and conduct and support research on existing and emerging infectious diseases. These efforts will provide knowledge and evidence to guide public health action in Canada. Furthermore, PHAC will support initiatives aiming to eliminate tuberculosis.

More information about Infectious disease prevention and control can be found in the full plan.

Planned spending: $298,134,719

Planned human resources: 582

Departmental results:

• Result 3.1: Public health events and emergencies are prepared for and responded to effectively
• Result 3.2: Public health risks associated with the use of pathogens and toxins are reduced
• Result 3.3: Public health risks associated with travel are reduced

To prepare for and respond to public health events and emergencies effectively, PHAC will:

• help facilitate access to medical countermeasures;
• update, maintain, and test key emergency management plans and evaluate and enhance public health event responses; and
• work with the WHO to drive international collaboration to address key global health initiatives.

To reduce the public health risks associated with the use of pathogens and toxins, PHAC will monitor and strengthen compliance with the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and Regulations (HPTA/R) and continue to respond more rapidly to an evolving threat environment. PHAC will also share expertise and best practices to advance Canada's global health security commitments as well as global biosafety and biosecurity priorities.

To reduce the public health risks associated with travel and protect the health of Canadians, PHAC will maintain a physical presence at the four largest air ports of entry, inform the development and improvements of products and tools that promote travel health, and work with partners to enable coordinated action when risks of importing communicable diseases emerge. To mitigate public health risks on federally regulated conveyances, the Agency will conduct inspections and develop inspection guidelines to promote industry compliance with best practices.

More information about Health security can be found in the full plan.