Conference to develop a federal framework on Lyme disease (2016)

Thank you to all the participants that attended in-person and online.

Conference summary report

The conference took place on May 15 to 17, 2016, at the Government Conference Centre in Ottawa (111 Sussex Drive). The conference was open to the public. For those that were unable to attend in person, online viewing was available.
The agenda and conference summary report are available online.
You can also listen to the conference audio recordings. If you would like to obtain a copy of the presentations, please contact the conference secretariat at maladie_lyme_disease@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

The Government of Canada held a conference to develop a federal framework on Lyme disease, as mandated by the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act.

The conference's aim was to develop a framework that would help prevent and reduce Lyme disease-related health risks to Canadians. It focused on:

medical surveillance for tracking:
- incidence rates
- associated economic costs
guidelines and best practices regarding:
- treatment
- prevention
- identification
- management
standardized educational materials:
- to increase national awareness
- for use by Canadian public health providers

The Public Health Agency of Canada opened the conference on behalf of the Minister of Health. Participants included:

provincial and territorial health ministers
stakeholders, including representatives of:
- patient groups
- the medical community

The conference planning committee organized the conference with help from the:

Members included:

Gregory W. Taylor: Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada
Daniel Gregson: Past-President, Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada
Jim Wilson: President and Founder, Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation
George Chaconas: Canada Research Chair, Molecular Biology of Lyme Borreliosis
Gwen Barlee: National Policy Director, Spokesperson for the Wilderness Committee
Marguerite Glazer: Association Québécoise de la maladie de Lyme
Vett Lloyd: Professor of Biology, Mount Allison University
Ralph Hawkins: Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Calgary
Richard Rusk: Central Medical Officer of Health Services, Communicable Disease Control, Manitoba Health
Marc Ouellette: Scientific Director, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Joel Kettner: Professor, University of Manitoba
Gerald Evans: Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, and Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Queen's University

This conference was accredited by the:

Accreditation allows for professional credits to be earned for those who attended.