On September 15, 2020, our scientific director Alain Vanasse took part in a webinar organized by the Association pour la santé publique du Québec to discuss the implications of a lack of access to information for public health with Thomas Bastien, Richard Lessard, Philippe Després, Roxane Borgès Da Silva and Sylvain Bédard.
The Unité de soutien SSA du Québec is one of the organizations advocating for increasing the use of data by giving researchers quick and secure access to existing data managed by the Institut de la statistique du Québec, the RAMQ and government ministries.
Watch the webinar to learn how and why.
Survey: Quebecers support sharing anonymized government data with Quebec researchers
In a press release issued on September 16, the Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ) published the results of a survey it had commissioned, which was conducted by Leger with 1,005 respondents. The survey showed that ⅔ of Quebecers find it somewhat or very important that the government give researchers access to the data it produces and collects to improve public health.
According to the survey, 6 out of 10 Quebecers say they support sharing anonymized data from the Régie de l’assurance-maladie du Québec (RAMQ) on the health status of Quebecers so they can be used by researchers affiliated with Quebec universities, government ministries and para-governmental organizations. Specifically, 63% of Quebecers support sharing data with university-affiliated scientists and 59% with para-governmental organizations and institutes. However, public support is weaker when it comes to sharing information with researchers in the pharmaceutical industry: in this case only 40% would support it.
Read the press release to learn more.