Supporting Organizations
Statements of Support
“Transport Canada manages one of the largest and most diverse portfolios in the federal government. It strives to serve the public interest through the promotion of a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation system. Like most spheres of the economy, the transportation sector has been severely disrupted by COVID-19; not only because of decreased economic output brought by confinement and social distancing measures, but also because of the potential role of the sector itself as a vector of the virus.
Therefore, Transport Canada would be greatly interested in work on a cross-sectoral analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic as it would complement the significant work it has already undertaken. More specifically, this auxiliary source of knowledge would provide policymakers with a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective on infectious disease modeling.”
Urban Public Health Network (UPHN)
“The UPHN will be a knowledge-user of the One Society Network. The UPHN is a member-based non-profit organization comprised of 23 large city Medical Officers of Health (MoH) from across the country. These MoH are responsible for ensuring the health and safety of entire populations and are essential to the creation of general public health orders. As evidence-based practitioners, MoH’s have an on-going appetite for data and modelling on COVID-19 (and future pandemics) to help inform their decision-making.
UPHN is excited to be a knowledge user of One Society Network and to use their evidence to guide policy. UPHN will inform One Society Network about their data needs and any topics of particular concern. Then, in collaboration with UPHN, the One Society Network will provide Medical Officers of Health across Canada with intersectoral evidence, for how the pandemic and public health policies and interventions will impact a diversity of sectors, including the broader health (e.g. mental health), economic, agriculture, environment, and education sectors. The One Society Network can also inform MoH’s on how changes in these sectors may ultimately impact the health of its citizens.”
“The Alberta Ministry of Health is supportive of this work and committed to serving as a knowledge user of the project. By developing methods to evaluate ‘One-Society’ impacts of various COVID-19 interventions, decision makers and advisors will gain a better understanding of how changes in one part of society (or policies related to COVID-19) have impacts in many other sectors.
This understanding and quantification of inter-sectoral effects will help us recommend more optimal policies in the future, for COVID-19 and for other emerging infectious diseases. The Ministry of Health has been successfully collaborating with the project Principal Investigator and Co-investigators, for many years. Specifically, Professor McCabe and his team have a strong record of providing the Alberta Ministry of Health with policy-relevant information, often with rapid timelines.
The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) team have used infectious disease models to inform Alberta vaccine policy, including the development of a COVID-19 model to inform the Alberta Ministry of Health’s initial COVID-19 response. We will build upon these existing relationships between the Alberta Ministry of Health and Professor McCabe’s team in the development of an infectious disease and economic COVID-19 model.
This partnership will substantially strengthen both the scientific robustness of the model, and its ability to guide Alberta’s COVID-19 policy. The Ministry is committed to providing access to the necessary data on COVID-19, including but not limited to, case counts and rates, testing, disease outcomes (e.g. hospitalization length of stay) and costs. The Alberta Ministry of Health has some of the best data sources on COVID-19 disease rates, outcomes and interventions in Canada, with integrated real time data of notifiable diseases, and immunizations. The Ministry also commits to being involved in the tailoring and delivery of findings to the COVID-19 response teams.”
Alberta Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Innovation
“The Alberta Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Innovation is supportive and interested in the work being proposed by the One Society Network. The Ministry is committed to serving as a knowledge user of the project, by both providing feedback on the questions being asked and using the outcomes from the One Society Network to inform decision-making.”
Statements of Collaboration
Canadian Network for Modelling Infectious Disease (CANMOD)
“We have formed potential collaborations with CANMOD, led by Dr. Caroline Colijn and Dr. David Earn.
While the networks will work independently to ensure flexibility in response, there will be multiple opportunities for collaboration, including but not limited to:
1)Sharing of data between modelling networks. CANMOD will provide details on the natural history of disease and transmission characteristics of the pathogen. Concurrently, One Society Network will share economic and outcome data parameters (e.g. costs and quality of life outcomes).
2) Sharing of model findings between networks. For instance, CANMOD will provide details on their intervention modelling results, which will be fed into the broader infectious disease and intersectoral models from the One Society Network, to estimate the impacts on sectors across society.
3) Scheduled meetings between the groups to discuss modelling synergies.
4) Opportunities for cross training, such as having trainees and collaborators from both networks getting involved in the partnered network’s projects, as well as a yearly conference for trainees from different groups.
We look forward to working collaboratively with other networks to strengthen the capacity of infectious disease modelling in Canada, and its links to the wider impact on society, and therefore, the ability of infectious disease models to inform policy at all levels of government.”