Population health

Health in All Policies (HiAP) is a global initiative rooted in the principles of health promotion and intersectoral actions first introduced by Finland’s European Union presidency in 2006 (Ståhl, 2018). More specifically, it refers to “an approach to public policies across sectors that systematically takes into account the health implications of decisions, seeks synergies, and avoids harmful health impacts in order to improve population health and health equity” (World Health Organization, 2014, p. i17). As such, it could have great potential for guiding the post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic recovery efforts of various actors to promote the health and wellbeing of Canadians while also striving to reduce health inequalities. This report presents the findings of a consultation conducted to inform the project of creating a Canadian Network for Health in All Policies (CNHiAP).

The objective of this consultation was to explore the interest and feasibility of a CNHi…

Highlights

• This report presents data on the prescription of medications for attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) taken from the Québec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System (QICDSS). Estimates were obtained from longitudinal monitoring between April 1, 2000, and March 31, 2020, for all individuals aged 24 years and younger who were eligible for Québec’s public prescription drug insurance plan (PPDIP).
• The results show a steady increase in the prescription of ADHD medications over time. In 2019–2020, 56,080 Quebecers (7.7%) aged from 1 to 24 years enrolled in the PPDIP received at least one prescription for ADHD medication.
• The percentage of ADHD medication prescribing differs by the sex and age of the person.
• The prevalence of ADHD medication prescribing varied considerably across regions, ranging from 3.2% to 14.4%.
• People living in highly economically advantaged environments have a lower pre…

This report represents a guidance document on the roles of public health in population mental health and wellness promotion (PMHWP) across Canada. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought mental health to the forefront of countries’ responses to the pandemic, building the workforce and organizational capacity in public health for PMHWP is even more relevant now than ever before.

This document was developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP), and builds on conversations which occurred at a Forum on Population Mental Health and Wellness Promotion (the Forum), in February-March of 2018. The Forum was organized by the six National Collaborating Centres for Public Health (NCCs), in collaboration with four partner organizations: the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). T…

The wellbeing approaches studied, with their reference frameworks and associated wellbeing indicators, are policy instruments for the entire government apparatus. Although these approaches have only recently been introduced and have been the subject of few evaluations, they appear promising. They are based on a vision of social, human, economic and environmental progress and rely on measurements that complement those of economic growth and GDP. Their adoption is intended to support what matters most to people, namely their wellbeing. 

The main features common to the wellbeing approaches of these central governments are:

• They are intended to be whole-of-government approaches, i.e., they involve the entire government apparatus, as well as other actors (departments, governmental and paragovernmental agencies, private sector actors, research groups, civil society, etc.).
• They view wellbeing as a multidimensional concept (e.g., with psychological, social, e…

This health profile of linguistic communities is based on data from the 2014-2015 Québec Population Health Survey (QPHS). It addresses a number of topics broken down into 16 indicators covering certain behaviors associated with prevention and health promotion, certain aspects of physical and mental health status, as well as occupational health. Topics addressed in the report cannot be covered with medical or government databases or with census data. The data has been analyzed from a linguistic minority standpoint and according to immigrant status.

The highlights shown here only apply to indicators for which statistically significant differences were observed between the anglophone and allophone linguistic minority communities and the francophone linguistic community.

Linguistic minority status

Compared to francophones, anglophones:

• scored favorably for three indicators: consistent condom use, psychological distress, and non-traum…

This study provides, for the first time, a profile of the health burden linked to different categories of body weight (underweight, overweight and obesity) among adults 18 years of age or over for the province of Québec. Based on different indicators of physical and mental health drawn from survey data, it describes the proportion and number of men and women who report suffering from specific health problems according to their weight category. The study also identifies the degree to which certain health problems are associated with body weight, as well as highlighting particular associations where Québec stands out from the rest of Canada.

From the standpoint of public health planning, the findings presented can be used to identify initiatives that would most effectively improve the wellbeing and the quality of life of the Québec population.

Highlights

• In Québec, excess weight is synonymous with a greater number of health problems.
…

The Romaine project offers a good illustration of all the risks of implementing major development projects in northern Quebec. The first major hydroelectric site in many years to be established so close to a small community, this project is opening the way for many other large-scale projects. Havre-Saint-Pierre is one of the eight municipalities which, along with the two Aboriginal communities of Ekuanitshit and Nutashkuan, constitute the Regional County Municipality (RCM) of Minganie on the North Shore. Havre-Saint-Pierre is the central point of Minganie and the seat of the RCM and of many governmental, municipal and regional services. The local economy, traditionally centered on fishing, has branched out in recent years.

Hydro-Québec's Romaine project is aimed at the development of a 1 550 MW hydroelectric complex on the Romaine river north of the municipality. Construction work on this complex consisting of four generating stations began in May 2009 and should continue un…

This report examines the avoidable mortality rates of Québec's two main linguistic groups, francophones and anglophones, over four periods: 1990−1994, 1995−1999, 2000−2004, and 2005−2007. The analysis was performed for Québec as a whole and for three specific areas: the Montréal census metropolitan area (CMA), all of Québec's other census metropolitan areas (Gatineau, Québec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, and Saguenay), and the rest of Québec, i.e., non-metropolitan areas, or non-CMA.

Avoidable mortality refers to deaths occurring before age 75 due to causes that are known to be preventable. It is considered as an indicator of the quality of health services and public health interventions. Given advances in knowledge about the causes of disease and the means of treatment, we should ideally see a decrease in avoidable deaths, regardless of where people live or to what linguistic group they belong. We used the classification method developed by Tobias and Jackson (2001), wh…

As part of an initiative to evaluate the health status of Québec anglophones, their lifestyle habits and certain health indicators were examined by area of residence and compared with those of francophones. The data was taken from the 2003, 2007−2008 and 2009−2010 cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), with particular emphasis on the most recent data.

The results show few statistically significant differences in lifestyle habits and health indicators between anglophones and francophones, regardless of survey cycle or area of residence. Among the few significant differences we did find, anglophones report eating less often fruits and vegetables and tended to be more prone to overweight than francophones, but were also more physically active. They also seem to have a stronger sense of community belonging.

The sample of anglophones was relatively small in this survey, which reduces its statistical power and may partially account for the limited differenc…

For the 20% of Québec's population whose mother tongue is not French, communication in this language can create difficulties when dealing with the health and social services system. The presence of linguistic barriers in available services can have major negative repercussions on the health of patients. To ensure that anglophones and other linguistic minorities have access to services in their mother tongue, Québec health care facilities may use bilingual or translated documents, hire bilingual employees, offer second language courses to health professionals, or use interpretation services.

While bilingual or translated documents can make it easier to ask questions in another language, they do not ensure that the answers will necessarily be understood. Moreover, in Québec, documents translated into English may not be relevant in communications with allophone or aboriginal clienteles.

The use of bilingual employees has many benefits in terms of communication quality.…