Skin patients in Canada are well aware of the many problems in our medical system. Because skin patients grapple with the social stigma of having a skin disease, in the past we haven’t been very good about speaking up on issues that really affect us.

As a skin patient or as a family member or friend of one, you have likely bumped up against one or more of these issues already. They are real and they affect us all. The three issues that the CSPA is targeting specifically are:

1. the shortage of dermatologists in Canada, which is getting worse year over year as retiring dermatologists are not being replaced;
2. the difficulties that skin patients across Canada face as they and their doctors try to get access to new and effective treatments and medications; and
3. the dire need for increased funding for dermatology research in Canada

You can make a difference.

Take action now by getting involved as we tackle these three issues. Click here to learn more.  

Get involved with the CSPA. Join a committee, and/or simply help us work on ways in which we can most effectively reach decision-makers to change the way the Canadian health care and health research systems support skin patients. Enter here.

Advocacy. What is it?  Canadians often equate advocacy with strident shouting and angry militants. Not so. The CSPA believes that we can be the ‘squeaky wheel’ in a Canadian way; that we can make a difference for skin patients by calmly offering up the facts that our decision-makers need to make better decisions. Learn more here.

Briefing notes have been developed to help prepare you to speak to the shortage of dermatologists issue with the next level of decision-makers. Please take a moment to review the document here.