The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (OHCC) is collaborating with three other provincial healthy community networks on a national project called “Healthy Communities: An Approach to Action on the Determinants of Health in Canada.” The goal of the project is to demonstrate that using a Healthy Community approach is an effective way to address chronic disease prevention in Canada.
The aims of the project are to: assess the impact of using a Healthy Community (HC) approach in chronic disease prevention (CDP) and to address the broad determinants of health; identify measures of success and best practices for HC initiatives in terms of research, policy and practice; raise awareness of the benefits of using a HC approach to mobilize and empower communities around CDP strategies; collect and disseminate tools and resources to assist community coalitions to develop and implement HC and CDP initiatives; establish and manage a Canadian Healthy Communities network as a vehicle for knowledge dissemination and exchange; and recommend research and policy directions to advance knowledge of effective CDP strategies in a community setting.
As part of identifying measures of success and best practices for HC initiatives in terms of research, policy and practice, an online survey has been developed to help the project learn about HC initiatives in Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and British Columbia. Following the survey, the project team will conduct in-depth interviews with representatives from a few of the HC initiatives in each province. The survey, and the interviews, will help inform the process of selecting potential case studies for the project.
If you are part of a Healthy Community initiative and want to share information for the project’s research, please complete the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/SV6S8ZW by Monday, September 20 at 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.ohcc-ccso.ca or contact Ontario coordinator Lisa Tolentino at lisa@ohcc-ccso.ca or 705-488-1979.