Grant: Operating Grant: Health Systems Research on H1N1

Our research addresses the key responses to the H1N1 pandemic in the context of the homelessness crisis in Canada. This project will build upon our current CIHR funded research on pandemic planning and homelessness through enabling us to conduct an intensive case study of pandemic responses in six Canadian cities. A multi-site study is important, because we believe that local context not only shapes the nature of the homeless problem (and the response to it) but also has an impact on pandemic preparedness and response. Our research will focus on: a) the impact of H1N1 on systems level responses (involving provincial and municipal governments, public health agencies and institutions that coordinate homelessness services), b) the pandemic preparedness of agencies that provide services to people who are homeless, and c) the experiences and perspectives of the users of such services.