Health Policy Research Program
The purpose of the Health Policy Research Program (HPRP) is to
fund extramural policy research through a competitive, peer reviewed
process, in order to improve the evidence base available for health
policy decisions.
Canada's health system encompasses the contributions of many partners at all levels of government and in the public, voluntary, and private sectors, making effective partnership and evidence-based decision-making key elements in health strategies.
Policies and practices in the private, voluntary, and public
sectors at every jurisdictional level and in diverse fields (for
example, agriculture, immigration, urban planning, pollution control)
have impacts on the health of Canadians and the performance of
Canada's health care and public health systems. Decisions underlying these policies and practices respond to health, health system performance, economic, legal, ecological and other concerns.
To enable decision-makers to take the health-related impacts
of their actions into account and to promote informed debate and
public understanding of health policy issues, reliable evidence
must be generated and made widely accessible. In many areas relevant
to future decisions that will affect Canadians' health and their health system, the academic literature is either sparse or not easily applied to policy options or practices of interest to decision-makers or the public.
To increase the quantity of academic research that is directly
relevant to current and future health policy issues, the HPRP funds
academic research on topics corresponding to these gaps in the
literature. By doing so, the HPRP contributes to Health Canada's
efforts to foster more and better health research that is relevant
and accessible to others in the health fields and to potential
partners. The HPRP also supports the government's continuing
efforts to sustain a strong health care system and fund innovation
and research and development.
The objectives of the HPRP are to:
- Improve the evidence base available for policy decisions
affecting health by funding extramural policy research through
a competitive, peer-reviewed process;
- Engage the skills of university-based
researchers and focus them on knowledge gaps identified as
priorities through departmental consultation;
- Facilitate the dissemination of health policy research findings to decision makers; and
- Foster linkages between health
research and decision-making that facilitates the use of evidence
by policy decision-makers.
The following are the Health Policy Research Program Contribution Audits:
For further information about this program, contact
the Health Policy Research Program directly.
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