Program directory · Health Canada
Natural Health Products
- Department
- Health Canada
- Program code
- BVH04 (H)
- Core responsibility
- Health Protection and Promotion
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Program is responsible for administering an efficient and transparent regulatory system that ensures consumer safety, reduces regulatory burden, fosters innovation and accountability, and helps deliver health options to Canadians. This includes a progressive regulatory framework whereby regulatory decisions are weighed by certainty and risk levels, are evidence based and transparent, and provide assurance to Canadians that products sold in Canada meet the safety, effectiveness and quality requirements of the Natural Health Products Regulations (the Regulations) while respecting freedom of choice and cultural and philosophical diversity. The Program develops and maintains relationships with international regulatory partners, industry stakeholders and advisory committees. Target populations include regulated parties, stakeholders, and Canadians. Regulated parties comply with the Food and Drugs Act, Regulations and Canadian sites that manufacture, package, label and import products. Stakeholders promote natural health product use, provide information to the Program to make informed decisions, use Health Canada information for stakeholder interactions, conduct research and promote health campaigns. Canadians rely on Health Canada to have access to natural health products that are safe, effective and of quality, and information to make informed decisions.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Health Products | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $218M |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | Employees (FTEs) 303, against 250 in 2020-21 (+21%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025-26 | Planned employees (FTEs) 135, against 274 in 2024-25 (−51%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025-26 | Planned spending $20.1M, against $37M in 2024-25 (−46%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
| 2028-29 | Planned employees (FTEs) 78, against 134 in 2027-28 (−42%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 90% – 100% | 2019 | 83.3% In February 2017, the Department initiated changes to the 2014 Natural Health Products (NHP) Management of Applications Policy, which was finalized in 2019. This change communicated to stakeholders has resulted in an increased rigour of reviews and an increase in refusals of NHP applications. | Not met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 80% | 2020 | 78.3% In February 2017, the Department initiated changes to the 2014 Natural Health Products (NHP) Management of Applications Policy, which was effective in June 2019. This change communicated to stakeholders has resulted in an increased rigour of reviews and an increase in refusals of NHP applications. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 80% | 2021 | 80.1% | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 80% | 2022 | 84% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 80% | 2023 | 81% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 80% | 2024 | 84.2% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 80% | 2025 | 84.6% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 90% – 100% | 2019 | 100% | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 90% | 2020 | — No risk communications were issued for Natural Health Products. | No result reported |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 90% | 2021 | 0% One risk communication was issued for natural health products, but the service standard for dissemination was missed. Given that the total number of risk communications is small, missing a service standard will have a disproportionate effect on overall performance. | Not met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 90% | 2022 | — Result is N/A as no risk communications to health professionals for Natural Health Products were issued this year. | No result reported |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 90% | 2023 | — In 2022-2023, no risk communications were issued for Natural Health Products. As of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the scope of this indicator will be expanded to include InfoWatch publications in addition to the standard-issue risk communications. Doing so will increase the total number of communications products included in the calculations, and provide a more robust measure of the outcome. | No result reported |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 90% | 2024 | 100% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 90% | 2025 | 100% | Met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 80% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 90% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $17.7M | $23.7M |
| 2019-20 | $18.1M | $23.9M |
| 2020-21 | $18.4M | $29.4M |
| 2021-22 | $20.5M | $34.3M |
| 2022-23 | $21.1M | $33.5M |
| 2023-24 | $20.8M | $36M |
| 2024-25 | $20M | $37M |
| 2025-26 | $20.1M | — |
| 2026-27 | $18.6M | — |
| 2027-28 | $15.7M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $12.8M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 153 | 206 |
| 2019-20 | 153 | 209 |
| 2020-21 | 156 | 250 |
| 2021-22 | 160 | 303 |
| 2022-23 | 163 | 287 |
| 2023-24 | 152 | 269 |
| 2024-25 | 139 | 274 |
| 2025-26 | 135 | — |
| 2026-27 | 134 | — |
| 2027-28 | 134* | — |
| 2028-29 | 78* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $17,715,944 | $17,715,988 | $17,715,988 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $18,084,466 | $18,084,466 | $17,763,974 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $18,426,304 | $18,124,507 | $17,975,276 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $20,489,562 | $19,398,591 | $19,254,479 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $21,101,252 | $20,956,914 | $18,922,149 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $20,757,851 | $18,719,997 | $18,719,997 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $19,962,008 | $19,894,790 | $19,716,238 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $20,066,317 | $19,887,790 | $19,696,462 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $18,637,098 | $15,690,400 | $12,806,745 | ||||||||
| Actual | $23,695,498 | $23,896,106 | $29,435,877 | $34,339,839 | $33,459,035 | $35,963,113 | $37,004,649 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
