Although there are similar concerns across Canada when it comes to health inequity and improving accessibility to health services, each province has distinct strategies or action plans. There are various reports and documents that help guide different regions. Each province faces unique challenges and has its own take on which health determinants are a priority to address. A general consensus is that there needs to be increased public awareness of social determinants of health and an improved policy framework that does not approach the determinants in isolation from one another (Government of British Columbia, 2007). This week I joined forces with a classmate from Ontario named Kanisa Ratheeswaran. Together, we compiled resources and information about our provinces. With the help of Kanisa's blog post, I created a Prezi presentation.
British Columbia is considered to be one of the healthiest provinces. A comprehensive survey was performed in 2014 called My Community My Health (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). Recently, the findings have been formatted in very engaging ways with interactive tools available to explore the results (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). The My Community My Health Survey highlighted the impressive physical and mental health of over 33,000 people surveyed from BC Lower Mainland as seen in Figure 1 (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). I recommend visiting the My Health My Community website and learning about the wide range of topics covered such as (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019):
-Obesity and grocery access
-Fruit and vegetable consumption
-Food insecurity
-Diabetes
-Screen time
-Mood or Anxiety Disorders
-Proximity to alcohol
-Smoking prevalence across education groups
-Primary care access
-Association between sense of community belonging and perception of health (general health and mental health)
-Neighbourhood Walkscore.
Areas with the best "Walkscore" also had a greater proportion of residents that reached the recommended amount of daily walking (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). Vancouver had the highest proportion of residents who walked, cycled, or took transit to work (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). Those that used active modes of transportation decreased the odds of being overweight or obese by 33%; Transit users had 22% lower odds and those that biked or walked had 48% lower odds (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). The regions with the highest levels of physical activity lived in Whistler, Squamish, and West Vancouver/Lions Bay (Vancouver Coastal Health et al., 2019). Using the interactive results tool, the data can be organized across total population, by gender, by age and so much more, to really understand the differences between the 31 communities that were surveyed. Please see my post about health determinants for more information about British Columbia and Canada overall.
Figure 1. Highlights from My Health My Community Survey 2014
Government of British Columbia (2007) Social determinants of health. Retrieved from
Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health & The University of British Columbia (2019). Survey
Highlights: My Community My Health. Retrieved from
Canadian Public Health Association. (n.d.). Strategic plan 2016-2020. Retrieved from https://www.cpha.ca/strategic-plan-2016-2020
Government of British Columbia. (n.d). Health Authorities. Retrieved February 13, 2021 from
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/partners/health- authorities
Government of British Columbia. (2007). Social Determinants of health. Part I: Summary of Input on the Conversation on Health. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/
Government of Canada. (2020, October 7). Social determinants of health and health inequities. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/
Gundersen, C., Tarasuk, V., Cheng, J., De Oliveira, C., & Kurdyak, P. (2018). Food insecurity status and mortality among adults in Ontario, Canada. PloS One, 13(8), e0202642.
Hassen, N., Tyler, I., & Manson, H. (2017). Influence of revised public health standards on health equity action: a qualitative study in Ontario, Canada. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), 1-11.
McLeod, C. [UBC Medicine-Educational Media]. (2017, January 13). The social determinants of health [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTqknri15fQ
Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance. (2008). Primer to action: Social determinants of health. https://en.healthnexus.ca/sites/en.healthnexus.ca/files/
Public Health Agency of Canada & Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. [Public Health Agency of Canada]. (2019, January 4). Health inequalities in Canada [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMkBUXJLW9g
Provincial Health Services Authority. (2016, January). Priority health equity indicators for British Columbia. Retrieved from http://www.bccdc.ca/pop-public-health/Documents/
Ruckert, A. (2012). The federal and Ontario budgets of 2012: What’s in it for health equity? Canadian Journal of Public Health, 103(5), e373-e375.
Wellesley Institute. (2015). Low Wages, No Benefits Expanding Access to Health Benefits for Low Income Ontarians. Retrieved from https://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/publications/low-
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