New website seeks healthy debate on health care

Public opinion surveys consistently rank health care as a top issue for Canadians. Concerned citizens want to add their voices to policy debates on how well the health-care system is performing, and where it needs improvement. These citizens have a new resource, Healthy Debate website, which is designed to provide factual, unbiased, easy-to-understand information on health policy, in an engaging format. Healthydebate.ca was designed by a team of physicians, policy advisors and researchers based at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "We created the website to help foster informed public debate," says Dr. Andreas Laupacis, Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. "We firmly believe the health-care system will benefit from informed input from citizens." The website is partially supported by a grant from CIHR.

"Healthydebate.ca is a wonderful new way to engage Canadians in the health-care debate," says Dr. Robyn Tamblyn, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. "By providing evidence-based information, the site will also help in our effort to translate research into a stronger health-care system."