Public Health Leadership Competencies for Public Health Practice in Canada released
The National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health is proud to co-announce the release of the Leadership Competencies for Public Health practice in Canada.
Learning from the “language” panel discussion at TOPHC
The NCCDH hosted a panel discussion at TOPHC 2015 titled “Speaking Clearly: Language as a “changing technology” to help us advance our work on the social determinants of health and health equity” on March 27, 2015 in Toronto, ON. This session explored the power of language as well as our successes and challenges using terminology when talking about health equity.
Ways of Knowing
One of the central conversations throughout the gathering “Pathways to Health Equity for Aboriginal Peoples” was about different ways of knowing and how this is critical to doing research and knowledge translation that is meaningful to the Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Inuit, Metis) of Canada.
Sharing Popular and Scientific Knowledge to Advance Practice
An ongoing challenge for those working to reduce inequities in health has been finding and using evidence, due in part to the traditional divide between research and practice. This challenge underscores the importance of public health organizations contributing to the evidence base. This can be done through mechanisms such as journal publications, reports, and blogs, and also through communities of practice.
Building in Equity
Health Impact Assessment is a structured method to assess the potential health impacts of proposed policies and practices. When applied correctly, health impact assessments make it possible for staff to strengthen the health-enhancing elements of a plan, and minimize the aspects that may be harmful to health.
Growing Great Kids
Targeting within universalism has been identified as a promising practice to reduce inequities in health. This practice focuses more intensely on improving the health of more disadvantaged groups through targeted programs, while at the same time offering universal services to improve the health of the entire population. This approach is often used in conjunction with the promising practice of supporting early child development. Public health programs are designed to support the healthy development of all children with a special emphasis on children living in disadvantaged circumstances.
Using Organizational Standards and Competencies to Promote Social Justice
An important challenge for public health organizations is building and maintaining the knowledge, skill and experience required to work effectively on social inequities. This challenge has led to a variety of capacity building strategies for public health recruitment, job orientation and training, and ongoing professional development.
This Way to a Healthy Baby
Social marketing has been identified as a promising practice for reducing inequities in health. It is defined as “the systematic application of marketing alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals, for a social good”. Social marketing was selected by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) as a strategy to improve the health of pregnant women living in inner city neighbourhoods.
Seasons of Wellness
Northern Health in British Columbia undertook a community engagement process with northern Aboriginal communities of building relationships and working collaboratively to address issues stemming from marginalization and colonization to achieve a common goal of improving health for their people.
A Health System Approach to Reducing Inequities
The health system plays an important role in coordinating the design, organization, and management of programs and services to achieve more equitable health outcomes for people. With this in mind, the BC Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) initiated the Reducing Health Inequities Project to identify actions the health system could take to reduce health inequities.