Vancouver — The B.C. government put some money on the table Thursday to shore up its bid to create a national disease control centre in this city.
The province is offering to cover one third of the annual operating costs of the centre, or $73.5-million.
That figure is what the province already spends each year on the provincial centre for disease control.
Health Minister Colin Hansen said it makes sense for the national centre to be located in British Columbia, the only province with an existing centre.
"Most of the infectious diseases we're starting to see emerge newly in the world are coming out of Southeast Asia," Mr. Hansen added.
"Vancouver would be perfectly situated, geographically, to provide that."
Last year's SARS outbreak showed the centre is a proven leader in disease research and response.
Of the five infected people who brought the disease to Canada, three came through British Columbia.
Yet they were quickly identified and isolated, and there was almost no spread in the community.
Two infected travellers went to Toronto and the infection spread quickly, crippling hospitals and gripping the city in fear.
British Columbia's Centre for Disease Control drew on its close links with the University of British Columbia, the B.C. Cancer Agency and the Genome Science Centre.
Ultimately though, it's the communication between health authorities that is vitally important in containing an outbreak, Mr. Hansen said.
"The world has to become a smaller place when we manage these infectious diseases, so clearly communication between here and Winnipeg and Hong Kong and Atlanta, Ga., were so key in what eventually became a real B.C. success story," he said.
Lobbying for a national centre will continue next week during a visit by Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister of state for public health.
She is touring sites in Canada and the United States to determine what standard a national agency should aspire to and what assets the country already has in place.
Wherever the centre is located, it should be set up as soon as possible, said Robert Brunham, the BCCDC's director of medical and academic affairs.
"This is an urgent need for Canada. It is something clearly missing," he said.
"Canada definitely needs a more robust and integrated public health system that can detect and respond to diseases."
