The BC Centre for Disease Control is the public health arm for

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

's Provincial Health Services Authority. It is located at 655 West 12th Avenue,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, BC. The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) provides provincial and national leadership in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

through surveillance, detection, treatment, prevention and consultation services. The Centre has

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and

sexually transmitted infection Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...

s (STI) clinics as well as outreach clinics in high prevalence areas throughout BC. It also provides analytical and policy support to all levels of government and health authorities. It is linked to the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

for research and teaching. The BCCDC is the centralized purchaser of all non-travel

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

s for the Province, is responsible for Provincial environmental health issues and carries out both public health and

medical sciences Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

research.

Organizational service lines

* Clinical Prevention Services (CPS) * Communicable Diseases and Immunization Services (CDIS) * Environmental Health Services (EHS)

Partnerships

The BCCDC maintains partnerships with organizations throughout Canada, including regional health authorities, the

Government of British Columbia The Government of British Columbia (french: Gouvernement de la Colombie-Britannique) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of British Columbia. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assumi ...

, the

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

, the Public Health Agency of Canada,

Health Canada Health Canada (HC; french: Santé Canada, SC)Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary unit ...

, BC Communicable Disease Policy Advisory Committee, and the BC environmental Health Policy Committee.

Foundation

The BCCDC Foundation for Public Health is the charitable partner of the BCCDC, engaging donors and partners to raise funds for initiatives to address issues such as vaccine uptake, environmental health risks and

communicable diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

. The foundation accepts donations from members of the public, government agencies, philanthropic organizations and the health care and pharmaceutical industries. Funds are allocated to broad or specific programs including supporting scientific research at academic institutions like the

, as well as agencies responding to

public health emergencies In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

such as

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the

opioid epidemic The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the sign ...

Public health activities

COVID-19

On April 30, 2020, the BCCDC published guidance alongside the

BC Ministry of Health The Ministry of Health is a provincial government department responsible for the Canadian province of British Columbia's health system, with a mandate to guide and enhance the province's health services to ensure British Columbians are supported ...

on interpreting the results of

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) t ...

(PCR) tests for detection of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

, the virus that causes

Notable people

Jennifer Gardy Jennifer Gardy is a Canadian scientist, educator and broadcaster, with expertise in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry, and bioinformatics. Since February 2019 she has been the Deputy Director, Surveillance, Data, and Epidemiology on ...

, Deputy Director of Surveillance, Data and Epidemiology at the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

*Reka Gustafson, Vice President of Public Health and Wellness at BCCDC, and Deputy Provincial Health Officer under the

Agatha Jassem Agatha Jassem is a Canadian clinical microbiologist and the program head of the Virology Lab at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory, and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Pathology & Labora ...

, head of the Virology Lab at British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Public Health Laboratory *

Mel Krajden Mel Krajden is a physician and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is the medical director of the BCCDC Public Health Laboratory. Dr. Krajden obtained his ...

, Medical Director at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Public Health Laboratory

References

{{Authority control Organizations based in Vancouver Medical and health organizations based in British Columbia