BACKGROUND Recent international and national events have brought critical attention to the Canadian public health system and how prepared the system is to respond to various types of contemporary public health threats. This article describes the study design and methods being used to conduct a systems-level analysis of public health preparedness in the province of Alberta, Canada. The project i...

Applying four analytic lenses (consumption, communication, community, and responsibility) and three forms of agency (objectivation, activation, and engagement) this paper develops a conceptual platform for the analysis of the impact of health-care ICTs. It is argued that a closer study of applications within tele-medicine, health informatics, and e-health needs to take into account (changes in)...

Public health in Canada has recently had intense media attention related to such threats as SARS, avian flu, a potential flu pandemic, contaminated drinking water in Walkerton, Ontario, and North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and preventable chronic conditions including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.These issues have highlighted the importance of public health and the need to strengt...

Toward a Systems Approach to Health Literacy Research Howard K. Koh a , Cynthia Baur b , Cindy Brach c , Linda M. Harris d & Jessica N. Rowden d a Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, District of Columbia, USA b Office of the Associate Director for Communication, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Geor...