Alberta’s provincial medical officer shared his vision for public health for the province during a speaker series yesterday morning.
But despite trying to focus on being the visible face of public health and renewing the public health act, Dr. Andre Corriveau said the H1N1 pandemic has taken up most of his short time in the position.
When Corriveau became Alberta’s chief medical officer of health in March, the position had been empty for several months. He said now that he’s finished rebuilding the office, it’s time to move forward with a public health agenda.
“We have a lot of other public health issues we have to deal with,” he said. “If we really want to make sure we deal with the next pandemic 20 years from now effectively, we have to make sure we have less people with chronic conditions.”
Corriveau cited the child obesity crisis and the continuing syphilis outbreak in the province as issues that need to be dealt with more effectively.
“There’s no shortage of work in my business,” he said.
