Submission ID 118306
| Issue/Objective | By name, global health is a truly global endeavor, involving the contributions of its participant countries. Canada's inclusion and participation in global health, especially on matters related to governance and collaboration, is influenced by how its federal policymakers define and perceive equity in their practice. Because public health does not operate in a vacuum, it is important to understand how equity is understood and approached by policymakers within and outside the health sector. Therefore, we ask the research question: How do Canadian federal civil servants involved in policymaking perceive and approach issues of equity in public policy? |
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| Methodology/Approach | We developed a questionnaire administered to Canadian federal civil servants, assessing how they think about and act on equity in the policymaking context. The survey was administered online using the REDCap platform. Publicly available contact information of federal civil servants was downloaded from the Government of Canada website. The questionnaire was distributed to n=129,004 potential respondents via email. The UBC Research Ethics Board provided ethical approval for this study (protocol number: H24-02186). |
| Results | Preliminary results indicate that respondents mostly feel confident about their knowledge of equity but find themselves somewhat uncomfortable raising equity-related concerns in their workplaces. Respondents mostly believe that equity is about resource allocation based on varying individual needs, reflecting their general opinion that universal policies with flexibility for different needs are the most desirable for policymaking. Their insights reveal concerns about equitable policies being more concerned with appearance and framed in terms of compliance. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Our novel study unveils important findings around the need for better knowledge mobilization on health equity amongst all policymakers (i.e., not just in health) and our work can lead to enhanced consideration of equity in policymaking. As such, our work can contribute to ongoing efforts to address equity across the work of various federal departments, and in turn, Canada's role in championing equity in global health. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Michelle Amri University of British Columbia Jan Filart University of British Columbia |
