563 - If an advertiser is looking to target an ad to healthcare professionals, what is the accepted definition of "healthcare professional" and how strictly enforced by Health Care Canada is the requirement of that targeting?
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For the purposes of the PAAB code, a healthcare professional is defined in s1.8 as licensed members of the professions of medicine, dentistry, naturopathy, homeopathy, nursing, pharmacy and other related disciplines. I am not sure what you mean with regards to enforcement of targeting requirements by Health Canada. The sponsor must ensure that there is a mechanism to prevent secondary audiences from accessing the content which exceeds the restrictions for consumer materials (i.e. HCP content must be restricted to HCP audiences). This can be done through controlled distribution of the content or, in the context of materials accessed through the internet, a gating mechanism.
