Deadline: 4 August 2017
Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) is pleased to invite eligible organizations to submit applications to support evidence-informed and innovative health promotion, prevention, harm reduction and treatment initiatives to address substance use issues related to licit and illicit psychoactive substances.
The SUAP is a federal contributions program that provides financial support to provinces, territories, non-governmental organizations and key stakeholders to strengthen responses to drug and substance use issues in Canada. Addressing the challenges posed by these issues requires leadership and collaboration across jurisdictions. Health Canada places a priority on working with partners to promote innovation and the adoption of best practices; improved effectiveness, efficiency and accountability within health and related systems; and, national approaches to issues and priorities.
Priority Areas
Innovative responses to Canada’s opioid crisis across the prevention, harm reduction and treatment continuum. Focusing on areas and populations with the highest need in the context of the current opioid overdose crisis, initiatives could include:
- Evidence-informed primary, secondary and tertiary overdose prevention efforts such as Naloxone training and support in non-traditional settings, engaging with and building community capacity and promoting the benefits of harm reduction, especially in higher-risk populations like individuals using alone.
- Expanding access and overcoming barriers to innovative harm reduction and/or treatment models such as barriers to injectable opioid therapy and other substitution therapies, drug checking and peer engagement.
- Development, enhancement and uptake of evidence-informed tools, technology, guidelines and protocols such as those related to withdrawal management, injectable opioids and other under-utilized treatment options.
- Empowering service providers with knowledge, skills, tools and supports such as trauma-informed training, education and practice guidance to enhance the service delivery capacity of primary care providers and allied professionals such as nurse practitioners.
- Enhancing access to, sharing and use of data to inform responses to the opioid crisis such as those related to prescription monitoring programs, evaluation and knowledge translation activities.
- Addressing cannabis use. This could include initiatives that target populations with higher risk such as those who initiate use early (youth), those who use frequently, those who use before driving, those who use during pregnancy, and seniors.
- Addressing alcohol and/or other licit or illicit substances. This could include initiatives that focus on high-risk use and respond to the individual, relationship, community and societal factors that contribute to high-risk substance use in a range of populations such as those that use multiple substances, have concurrent mental health and substance use issues and/or other populations with a high prevalence of problematic substance use.
Program Principles
The following principles should be applied, where possible, in developing applications for this funding opportunity:
- Evidence-based
- Evidence is central to this funding opportunity to ensure that initiatives are results-based. Evidence is needed to support the rationale for the proposed intervention, the specific population being targeted, and the intervention being implemented. Activities must reflect known best practice based on research evidence, including peer-reviewed and grey literature related to scientific studies from all disciplines and/or traditional knowledge. Where evidence of the effectiveness of a proposed intervention does not exist (e.g., because the intervention is new), the proposed approach must be based on a clearly articulated and plausible theoretical basis.
- Public Health
- Substance use can be symptomatic of underlying psychological, social, or health issues and inequities. Substance related problems do not always occur in isolation but can occur as part of social and behavioural clusters. Interventions should, therefore, target life functioning and environmental factors, not just the substance use. This may include addressing the physical, biological, psychological, and social determinants of health (e.g., wealth distribution, education, housing, social inclusion and other social conditions), as well as the determinants of social and health inequities (e.g., power imbalance, racism, classism, ageism, and sexism).
- Multi-sectoral and/or Multi-agency Collaboration
- Diverse, cross-sectoral partnerships are strongly encouraged. Responding to substance use issues is complex and can benefit from collaboration across sectors. Multi-sectoral approaches that involve organizations from multiple disciplines and sectors (e.g., non-profit, governmental, for-profit, academia) with complementary sets of expertise are encouraged. For specific collaboration requirements see Section 5.
- Comprehensive
- The greatest impact can be achieved by interventions that encompass multiple target populations, multiple substances and where possible, multiple determinants of health rather than those of a narrower scope. When possible these initiatives should complement or link with local, regional, provincial or territorial-level actions and initiatives, and be tailored for specific populations as needed.
- Community-based
- Community-based interventions aim to strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations at the community level to address substance use issues. Enhancing multi-sectoral or multi-agency collaboration, as described above, can help improve the system response to substance use at the community level. Community-based interventions include providing accurate information that empowers individuals to take action.
- Target population involvement
- Interventions should include the perspective of people who use or are affected by substance use issues, including within the family context.
- Health Equity
- Heightened efforts to address the needs of populations that experience disproportionate levels of substance use issues, including addressing low levels of health literacy, can help reduce health inequities between different population groups in Canada. As much as possible, data collected through SUAP interventions should enable health equity analysis by examining impact on sub-populations.
- Sex- and Gender-informed
- Sex and/or gender is relevant to prevalence and patterns of substance use, types of substances used, the physical impact of particular substances used, the subpopulations affected, the social context of use, and access to and outcomes of substance use health promotion, prevention, harm reduction and treatment programs. For specific sex and gender requirements see Section 10 below.
- Trauma-informed
- Trauma-informed practice is a client-centered model that is built on knowledge about the impact of violence and trauma on people’s lives and health. It requires programs to integrate this knowledge into all aspects of practice and programming. Trauma-informed practice in health promotion, prevention, harm reduction and treatment, including an understanding of the role of trauma in substance use and links to related issues, can help build resilience and improve health outcomes.
- Cultural Sensitivity
- Understanding the cultural contexts of populations is an essential element in designing and delivering information and health programs appropriately and effectively. Cultural contexts and values have a strong influence on health-related behaviours. Applicants to this funding opportunity must demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of culture as it pertains to the implementation of their proposed initiative.
- Reducing stigma and discrimination
- Stigma leads to discrimination, which prevents people from getting the services and supports they need. SUAP funding supports comprehensive approaches to improving public understanding and reducing stigma and discrimination related to substance use.
Expected Outcomes
Expected results of the program include:
- Targeted stakeholders and Canadians access evidence-informed information on substance use
- Targeted stakeholders and Canadians are equipped with the capacity (knowledge, skills and supports) to inform their decisions and actions related to substance use
- Targeted stakeholders use evidence-informed information on substance use to change policies, programs, and practice
- Targeted Canadians take positive actions with respect to substance use
- Canadians have access to quality, evidence informed health promotion, prevention, treatment and harm reduction programs and services
- Canadians have better health outcomes
Funding Duration
Initiatives can be a minimum of one year in duration and a maximum of five years. The recommended duration is two to three years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Canadian not-for-profit health organizations including:
- hospitals
- regional health councils
- community health organizations
- Canadian not-for-profit organizations and registered not-for-profit charitable organizations
- Canadian institutions including:
- universities
- school boards
- other educational centres in Canada
- Other levels of government including:
- provinces
- territories
- municipalities
- their agencies
- Off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit not-for-profit organizations
- Individuals, for-profit groups and Federal Crown corporations and on-reserve First Nations organizations are not eligible for funding under the SUAP.
How to Apply
The full application process will consist of two stages, as outlined below:
- Letter of Intent
- The LOI is a competitive process and all submissions are subject to Health Canada internal review. Not all organizations that submit an LOI will be invited to submit a proposal for funding. Only organizations with LOIs deemed to best fit with the overall goals of the funding program will be invited to submit proposals. The development of a proposal is the second stage of the application process.
- Full Proposal
- Successful LOI applicants will be required to complete and submit a proposal that elaborates on the initiative described in their LOI. Proposals will undergo another initial screening and review process and, pending approval and available budgets, successful applicants will be awarded funding.
Interested applicant must submit LOI in a prescribed format via email at the address given in the website.
Eligible Country: Canada
For more information, please visit SUAP.