Population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada

The Population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada (PHIRIC) aims to increase the quantity, quality and use of population health intervention research (PHIR). PHIRIC is guided by a strategic alliance of individuals and organizations who facilitate the necessary alignment of organizational priorities, investments and activities.

Population health interventions are policies, programs and resource distribution approaches that impact a number of people by changing the underlying conditions of risk and reducing health inequities. Examples of such interventions include introduction of organizational changes in workplace design, housing policies to reduce homelessness, immunization programs and new taxes on products such as tobacco.

Population health intervention research is not clinical or laboratory-based. Rather, it is defined by PHIRIC as research that involves the use of scientific methods to produce knowledge about policy and program interventions that operate within or outside of the health sector and have the potential to impact health at the population level.

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