The Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) is an electronic

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 ...

early warning system An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, event detection and decision subsystems for early identification of hazards. They work together to for ...

developed by

Canada's Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

Public Health Agency, and is part of the World Health Organization's (WHO)

Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) is a network composed of numerous technical and public health institutions, laboratories, NGOs, and other organizations that work to observe and respond to threatening epidemics. GOARN works clo ...

(GOARN). This system monitors internet media, such as news wires and websites, in nine languages in order to help detect and report potential disease or other health threats around the world. The system has been credited with detecting early signs of the

2009 swine flu pandemic The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1 influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, is the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Span ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Zika Zika fever, also known as Zika virus disease or simply Zika, is an infectious disease caused by the Zika virus. Most cases have no symptoms, but when present they are usually mild and can resemble dengue fever. Symptoms may include fever, red ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

H5N1 Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species. A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of typ ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

MERS Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory infection caused by ''Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus'' (MERS-CoV). Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. Typical symptoms include fever, cough, ...

and

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

. The system came to greater public awareness after it was revealed that Canada's Federal Government effectively shut it down in May 2019, ultimately preventing the system from providing an early warning of

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 ...

. In August 2020, the system began issuing alerts again.

History

Ronald St. John, then a government epidemiologist, created GPHIN in 1994 as a way to improve Canada's intelligence surrounding outbreaks. Growing in parallel with

ProMED-mail Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (also known as ProMED-mail, abbreviated ProMED) is among the largest publicly available emerging diseases and outbreak reporting systems in the world. The purpose of ProMED is to promote communication amon ...

, GPHIN was Canada's major contribution to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

(WHO), which at one point credited the system with supplying 20 per cent of its "epidemiological intelligence" and described the system as "the foundation" of a global pandemic early-warning system. After the

2003 SARS outbreak 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, the system became central to Canada's pandemic preparedness. The system, which eventually fell under the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response in the PHAC, detected early signs of the

and

2019–2020 silence

A July 2020 investigation by ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' revealed that Canada's Federal Government effectively shutdown GPHIN in May 2019, ultimately preventing the system from providing an early warning of

. After the government directed for a more domestic focus, the

Public Health Agency of Canada The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC; french: Agence de la santé publique du Canada, ASPC) is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic diseas ...

(PHAC) assigned employees to different tasks in the department. The shutdown was gradual: in 2009, there were 877 alerts; 198 in 2013; and only 21 in 2018. The final alert came on May 24, 2019. In August 2020, more than 400 days after going silent, the system began issuing alerts again. In early 2020 before COVID-19 was declared a

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

, scientists at PHAC "were told to focus on official information coming out of China, rather than unofficial intelligence. Some said they struggled to convey urgent information up the chain of command." Internal PHAC emails obtained by ''The Globe'' indicate that Sally Thornton, vice-president of the Health Security Infrastructure Branch, and Jim Harris, director-general of the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, oversaw the decision that curtailed alerts. Following ''The Globe and Mail's'' report, Canada's Auditor-General began an investigation into why the program was curtailed. Released in March 2021, the Auditor-General's report described PHAC as ill-prepared for the pandemic. The report focused primarily on the silencing of GPHIN and the inaccurate risk assessments that replaced it. In September 2020, Canada's

Health Minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Count ...

Patty Hajdu Patricia A. Hajdu (; born November 3, 1966) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of Indigenous services since October 26, 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, she also serves as the member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Super ...

ordered an independent federal review to look into both the shutdown of the system along with allegations that some scientist's voices were marginalized. Former national security adviser

Margaret Bloodworth Margaret Bloodworth, CM (born 1949) is a Canadian lawyer and civil servant. Bloodworth is the former National Security Advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Born in 1949, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Bloodworth is a graduate of the Unive ...

; former deputy chief public health officer Paul Gully; and Mylaine Breton,

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

Clinical Governance Clinical governance is a systematic approach to maintaining and improving the quality of patient care within the National Health Service (NHS). Clinical governance became important in health care after the Bristol heart scandal in 1995, during w ...

Primary Health Care Primary health care, or PHC, refers to "essential health care" that is based on scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology. This makes universal health care accessible to all individuals and families in a community. PHC in ...

led Hajdu's review. Canada's Chief Public Health Officer

Theresa Tam Theresa Tam (; born 1965) is a Canadian physician and public servant who currently serves as the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, chief public health officer of Canada, who is the second-in-command of the Public Health Agency of Canada ( ...

announced her support of the review, while

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

issued blame to funding cuts made prior to 2015 by the previous

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government under

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

Management

PHAC's Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPR) manages GPHIN. In October 2020, Jim Harris was director-general CEPR. In September 2020 Brigitte Diogo replaced Sally Thornton as vice-president of the Health Security Infrastructure Branch, the bureaucratic division overseeing GPHIN among other operations. A week later, President Tina Namiesniowski announced her resignation, with Trudeau nominating Iain Stewart as her successor.

History

2019–2020 silence

Management

References

Further reading