{"id":3621,"date":"2025-10-27T18:02:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pacificpublichealth.ca\/?page_id=3621"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:06:10","slug":"annualreport2425","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pacificpublichealth.ca\/annualreport2425\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Annual Report<\/h1>

2024-2025<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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What is Public Health?<\/h2>

We often hear from public health practitioners that public health is invisible\u2026 When it\u2019s working. It is always diligently operating behind the scenes, in research, policy, regulations, and programs that keep our communities safe.\u00a0It is the foundation on which good health is achieved.<\/strong><\/p>

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What is Public Health? Public Health is Invisible… When it’s Working<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

We interviewed several proud public health practitioners and experts, and what we heard time and time again was that no one knows public health exists when it\u2019s working well. Take, for example, our drinking water. When we wake up in the morning, wash our hands and brush our teeth, we don\u2019t think about the engineers, scientists, and infrastructure needed to maintain our water system and ensure we have access to clean drinking water. When do we notice this essential service? When there is something broken in that system, and we are inconvenienced by living under a boil water advisory.<\/p>\n\n

A Community Approach to Wellness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

While public health work often goes unnoticed, under-appreciated, and importantly, under-funded, the work is essential. It is the foundation on which good health is achieved. Public health considers entire communities, not just individuals, when finding solutions to reduce premature death and minimize effects of diseases. Those who work in the field of public health are concerned with the well-being of everyone, and take a One Health<\/a> approach, working with partners in fields such as the economy, environmental studies, and government, to ensure that well-being is promoted in all aspects of life.<\/p>\n\n

And what\u2019s more? It\u2019s the most cost-effective means of healthcare. Preventing an illness, or injury, is always cheaper than paying for costly treatment downstream<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Innovation at Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When you donate to public health, you are supporting innovation. In order to innovate, to find solutions to healthcare problems, we must invest in testing, trials of new treatments, and prevention measures. Wastewater testing<\/a> for unregulated drugs is a great example of innovation that has the potential to help prevent opioid overdose deaths and keep our communities safer. Another is Test, Link, Call,<\/em><\/a> <\/em>a cost-effective and innovative approach to support access to care and treatment for people at risk of diseases such as Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis.<\/p>\n\n

Finding Public Health in the Everyday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Public Health is connection. It is meeting the needs of our communities. It is being equipped with what you need to make good decisions for your health. It is seatbelts, helmets, life jackets, vaccinations, shelter, mental health supports, food security, legislation to reduce collisions on roads, and anything else you can think of that ensures our communities continue to thrive going forward.<\/p>\n\n

Our donors are investing in solutions, well before a health crisis takes hold. Taking an upstream approach, and doing the work that is needed to prevent serious illness and injury, will pay dividends by ensuring a healthier, safer, and more equitable future.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n

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Letter from Our CEO<\/h2>
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I joined Pacific Public Health Foundation as the Chief Executive Officer this past summer, taking over the reins from our Chief Operating Officer, Matthew Wright, who so graciously stepped in to support the team before I was brought on. This role has been an exciting new venture, bringing with it a lot of learning. Public health is vast, and I\u2019ve been spending time learning about BC\u2019s public health system, and the role the Foundation plays in funding important public health initiatives.<\/p>\n\n

What I\u2019ve learned is that public health is invisible in many ways, but it is always working behind the scenes to keep our communities protected from illness and injury. It has been fascinating to learn that a large proportion of the increase in average lifespan in BC (i.e., average life expectancy increasing by 25 years – to 82.4 years – from 1900 to 2020) can be attributed to advances in public health, including immunization coverage rates, safer food and water, prevention and control of infectious diseases, improved maternal and infant health and other interventions.<\/p>\n\n

Public health is the foundation of all of our lives, and our donors alongside government and non-government funding partners make good health possible in many ways.<\/p>\n\n

Youth mental health has suffered greatly in the last few years, particularly after COVID-19. That\u2019s why we fund grants across the province to improve youth resiliency, mental wellness and belonging. New parents are navigating vaccine protocols for their children in a time of much misinformation, so we support vaccine effectiveness research through our partners at the BC Centre for Disease Control, to keep our communities protected, and to build and maintain public trust.<\/p>\n\n

As BC\u2019s population ages, we support programs that study ways to help reduce the risk of falling in the elderly. Parents need help providing supplemental healthcare for their children in this time of economic uncertainty, so we provide vision exams and free glasses for children in Okanagan schools.<\/p>\n\n

British Columbians from equity-deserving populations continue to struggle accessing care, so we support our partners at K\u00edlala Lelum, an Indigenous-led wellness hub in Vancouver\u2019s Downtown Eastside, and programs like Test Link Call <\/em>provide access to care for those at risk of, or diagnosed with Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections (STBBI) like hepatitis B and C.<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019ve learned that public health is all these things and so much more, and I am proud to lead an organization of passionate individuals that champion public health as a cause.<\/p>\n\n

All this is possible due to our supporters, partners, and under the guidance of our dedicated Board of Directors, to create immediate and measurable health impacts that are felt in all corners of our beautiful province.<\/p>\n\n

I hope as you read through the stories in this report, that you gain a greater understanding of the importance and impact of public health programs on the health of our communities, as I have in the past few months. A rising tide lifts all boats, and by investing in public health, our supporters are investing in healthier communities overall.<\/p>\n\n

I look forward to meeting existing donors and partners, and bringing onboard a new wave of supporters to contribute to the ever-increasing public health needs of our province. My work as CEO has just begun, and with the wonderful team we already have in place, I know we will achieve great things, and change the public health landscape in BC for the better.<\/p>\n\n

Warm regards,<\/p>\n\n

Shellina Lakhdhir, CFRE, EMBA (Candidate) CEO<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Letter from Our Board Chair<\/h2>
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2024\u20132025 was another productive year for the Foundation as we moved to the third year of our strategic plan. The organization underwent some internal shifts, with the addition of a new CEO, Shellina Lakhdhir, and welcoming new staff members. The (now more robust) team continues to work towards our purpose of a healthier, safer, and more equitable future for everyone in BC.<\/p>\n\n

The Foundation advanced key partnerships, including one with Michael Smith Health Research BC, British Columbia\u2019s research agency. Through this partnership, we are jointly funding public health research projects that demonstrate impact, especially with Indigenous communities and in rural and remote areas, making improvements to population health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n

As part of our commitment to raise the profile of public health, the team successfully launched a knowledge translation video series, \u201cPublic Health Is\u2026\u201d, interviewing experts from all areas of public health about the public health system and how it impacts individuals and communities across BC. This content includes awareness building around the invisible nature of public health work, happening behind the scenes of our everyday lives. We\u2019ve seen growing interest in these public health concepts and have leveraged that in our other areas of work.<\/p>\n\n

The Foundation supported over 33 projects in 2024\u20132025 that spanned a number of public health areas like disease prevention, youth mental health, pandemic recovery, and public health innovation. Here are just a few project highlights: the SPEAK 3 survey helped us better understand British Columbians\u2019 general health status and wellbeing and will help us identify opportunities for continued post-pandemic recovery. The Hepatitis B Roadmap is going to create a comprehensive plan to eliminate viral hepatitis in BC by 2030, helping Canada meet the UN\u2019s goal of global elimination. The Ministry of Health foodborne illness project helped to determine why salmonella cases were rising nationwide, leading to a change in national food policy. The grants we provided of up to $50,000 to schools, school districts, parent advisory councils, youth-led groups, and other youth-centered organizations on Vancouver Island are helping to improve youth mental health wellbeing and resiliency; and the asthma research \u2014 that found a link between unnecessary antibiotic exposure during infancy and asthma in infants \u2014 will help contribute to the global reversal of asthma and allergic disease.<\/p>\n\n

We could not continue to support projects like these, that have measurable impacts on public health in the province, without the support of our donors and partners. Going forward, the Foundation will continue to champion public health as a cause and make public health concepts accessible. With new leadership at the helm, we look forward to accomplishing even more in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douglas Nelson, Board Chair<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n

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Priorities in Public Health<\/h2><\/div>\n
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Preventing Salmonella Infections<\/h3>Read More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Reducing Asthma in Children<\/h3>Read More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Supporting Indigenous Communities in the Downtown Eastside<\/h3>Read More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t“The asthma folks did a double-take and said, ‘well, wait a minute. Asthma is coming down too, especially in kids.’ And this raised the question for us to ask whether these things [asthma and antibiotics] were connected.”<\/span>\t\t<\/p>\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\t

\n\t\t\u2014 Dr David Patrick<\/span>\t<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>
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