Gazette, 2004-02-19

              Memorial
' University of Newfoundland
Publications Mail
Registration No. 40062527
Volume 36 Number 13
A MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND PUBLICATION
February 19, 2004
New role for public health
By Sharon Gray
In the wake of the SARS crisis, the
federal government established a
National Advisory Committee on SARS
and Public Health (the Naylor Report). The
consensus is that major
changes are needed in
the public health
system.
Dr. David Mowat,
director general of the
Centre for Surveillance
Coordination with the
Population and Public
Health Branch of Health
Canada, was at the
medical school Feb. 9 to discuss the implications of this report in a public lecture titled
Public Health at the Crossroads.
"After SARS, something has to change,"
he said. "It's not just infectious diseases but the
broader problems of health protection and
health promotion."
Since 1973 more than
30 previously unknown
diseases associated with
viruses and bacteria
have emerged.
Dr. David Mowat
Dr. Mowat explained that public health
services are delivered by the provinces and
territories, with delivery taking place though
137 local agencies country-wide. In the case
of SARS, the epidemic was confined mainly
to Toronto; thousands of people were quarantined and there were 44 deaths. The
economic impact is calculated at up to $1.5
billion.
"There were actually two SARS outbreaks
- the first from Feb. 23 to April 23 and the
second from May 23 to June 5. By the time the
travel advisory was
imposed, the first
outbreak was over and
the second originated
with infected individuals in Toronto."
Dr. Mowat said that
mortality due to infectious diseases such as
SARS is very small,
compared to the major
killers such as cardiovascular diseases. "Our
major public health problems are obesity,
physical inactivity and nutrition. Diabetes is
a growing problem, affecting 15 per cent of
older males and an increasing proportion of
the Aboriginal population."
In terms of infectious diseases, since 1973
more than 30 previously unknown diseases
associated with viruses and bacteria have
emerged including the Ebola virus, Legionnaire's disease, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C,
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and the avian flu.
There's been a five-fold increase in syphilis
and there are now antibiotic resistant variants
of diseases such as tuberculosis.
Because the public health system tends to
operate in the background, it takes an unexpected outbreak of disease such as SARS or
the failure of health protection as occurred
with water contamination in Walkerton,
Ontario, in 2000 to make people sit up and
take notice. Dr. Mowat said national strategies
are needed to tackle diseases like diabetes or
emerging diseases. "We need modem, harmonized legislation and at a national level we
need a federal agency - perhaps Public Health
should be set up as a free standing agency
separate from Health Canada."
Dr. Mowat's vision is of a national network
that will link public health with the provinces,
the academic community and voluntary
groups. "I don't think we're going to change
by doing the same thing we've done for 50
years. We need to tackle chronic diseases by
going beyond government." <££>
Memorial teaming up
with fish farmers
Memorial University's role in the
province's burgeoning aquaculture industry was one of the
subjects on the agenda of a recent conference
organized by the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association.
Memorial's Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC)
in Logy Bay recently received an Atlantic
Foundation for Innovation grant of over $4-
million to provide essential research to
enhance the establishment of a commercial
Atlantic cod aquaculture industry in
Newfoundland and to assist in the continued
development of the Atlantic halibut aquaculture industry in Atlantic Canada. The total
cost of the project is over $12 million
One of these projects involves a cod farm
project in Bay d'Espoir. Hatchery production
and research will take place at the Aquaculture
Research and Development Facility of the
OSC while on-growing will take place at the
demonstration site in Bay d'Espoir on
Newfoundland's south coast.
see FISH, page 8
Photo by Chris Hammond
Workers from Facilities Management hoist one of two Austrian pine trees from its former home on
the east end of the music building and prepare to replant it on the west side of the building. The
trees sat on ground destined to become Memorial's new concert facility, the Petro-Canada Hall.
Staff horticulturist Chris Baird said winter is the best time to move the pines while their roots are
frozen.
Conference highlights grad student research
SSHRC president to
deliver Aid rich lecture
By Deborah Inkpen
On, Feb. 23-24, the Graduate
Students' Union and the School of
Graduate Studies at Memorial
University will present the 2004 Aldrich
Interdisciplinary Lecture and Conference.
During the course of the conference graduate
students will present
20-minute long
papers on their
research.
The conference
will be held in the
Education Building.
The presentation of
papers begins at 9
a.m. in rooms ED-
4008, ED-4011 and
ED-4015.Thereisno
conference fee and all
members   of   the
Dr. Marc Renaud
university community and members of the
general public are encouraged to attend. A
schedule of presentations, along with
abstracts, can be found at www.mun.ca/gsu.
A highlight of the event is the Aldrich
Lecture, which will be delivered by Dr. Marc
Renaud, president of the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) since
1997. Dr. Renaud will
present the lecture, Human
Science: Dreams, Barriers
and Opportunities. The
lecture will address the
value of traditional research
in the social sciences and
humanities. How can we
transfer our knowledge
further into the world? How
can the work of scholars in
the human sciences enhance
see ALDRICH, page 6
Competitive
business
Power to the
people        1