Help Choose a Front-of-Package Nutrition Symbol for Canada!

Which Symbol Would Help you Avoid Unhealthy Choices?

Click here to learn more about proposed front-of-pack labels

Here’s a sobering fact: in Canada an unhealthy diet is the leading risk for death. This may be due to the unfortunate fact that Canadians rank second in the world for the amount of ultra-processed—high calorie, nutritionally lacking—food and drinks we buy.

When it comes to our food choices, Canadians care about nutrition alongside cost and convenience. The problem lies in deciphering what’s healthy from what’s not during a rushed grocery shopping trip – it can be an impossible feat.

The good news: Health Canada is proposing a nutrition symbol on the front of food packages that will help us make healthier choices at a glance. Packaged food would be required to show simplified nutrition information on the front of the box, bag or can—making it easy to see whether a product contains high levels of sugar, salt or saturated fat, and compare with other products.

Don’t miss this opportunity! Health Canada wants to know what symbol you would find most helpful as part of the government’s public consultation.

Participate in the Front-of-Package consultation:

Click here to give your feedback by April 26, 2018

Encourage Others to Have Their Say

Sample Facebook Post

Health Canada is proposing a front-of-package nutrition symbol to alert Canadians about foods and beverages high in saturated fat, sugar and sodium. Participate in the consultation by April 26 to let them know which symbol will help you make healthier choices https://www.healthyeatingconsultations.ca/front-of-package

Sample Tweet

Have your say! #FrontofPackage symbols on food will help you make healthier choices. Which one do you find most helpful? #EatHealthyCanada https://www.healthyeatingconsultations.ca/front-of-package

Retweet @GovCanHealth

https://twitter.com/GovCanHealth/status/979388213390446593

Retweet @GovCanHealth

https://twitter.com/GovCanHealth/status/976896306370105344

Retweet @GovCanHealth

https://twitter.com/GovCanHealth/status/973627390336339969

Retweet @Heart&Stroke

https://twitter.com/TheHSF/status/978668469662105600

From Research to Practice:

Improving usability, safety and patient outcomes with health information technology

February 14 – 17, 2019

Delta Ocean Pointe Resort

100 Harbour Rd

Victoria, BC, Canada

An international conference addressing Information Technology and Communications in Health  (ITCH)

Call for Papers

Improving Usability, Safety and Patient Outcomes with Health Information  Technology is the working theme for the 2019 international conference being held in Victoria, BC, Canada. Health information technologies are revolutionizing and streamlining healthcare and their uptake is rising dramatically. The variety and range of technologies and software applications is considerable and there is increasing demand for implementation of healthcare IT in hospitals, clinics, homes and in the virtual space of mHealth, pervasive healthcare and social media. However, to effectively implement these technologies scientific research and industrial and governmental supports must be strongly in place in order to transform healthcare and build capacity at the regional, national and global levels. The conference will  take a multi-perspective view about what is needed in order to move technology along to real sustained and widespread use in moving research findings and approaches into practice. Solutions range from improvements in usability and training, to need for new and improved design of information systems, user interfaces and interoperable solutions, to governmental policy, mandates, initiatives and need for regulation. In addition, greater interaction will be needed among industrial, governmental and academic partners.

Topics presented will range from the design, development and use of specific information communication technologies. We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following areas of interest:

• Electronic health records
• Personal health records and patient portals
• Human factors and usability engineering
• National & international strategies and policy
• Nursing informatics
• Public health informatics
• Ethics, privacy and cyber security
• Mobile technologies and telehealth
• Clinical decision support systems
• Clinical guidelines and protocols
• Health information technology safety
• Human-computer interaction
• Evaluation studies
• E-learning, education and training
• Consumer informatics
• Healthcare modeling and simulation
• Big data and data mining
• Data analytics
• Interoperability
• Social media in healthcare
• Standards, terminologies and ontologies
• Sensors and sensing technologies in the home
• Robotics to support health
• Information visualization
• Blockchain
• Artificial intelligence
• Cloud computing
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Machine learning
• Health technology assessment
• Smart homes and cities for health
• Bioinformatics and Genomics

Persons interested in presenting should submit completed papers to the ITCH 2019 Steering Committee no later than September 15, 2018. Papers which must be no longer than five pages, will be peer-reviewed for acceptance and publication in Proceedings – ITCH 2019. Authors will be notified of acceptance by October 22, 2018. All papers and requests for information are to be sent to itch@uvic.ca. The language of the papers and conference is English.

The camera-ready document must be structured and formatted in accordance with instructions found at the IOS Press website: https://www.iospress.nl/service/authors/latex-and-word-tools-for-book-authors/.  Submit the manuscript in a file that is in Microsoft Word, as well as a high resolution PDF with all fonts embedded.  Accepted papers will be printed in a Medline indexed publication and will be Open Access.

http://www.uvic.ca/hsd/itch/

https://www.uvic.ca/hsd/hinf/home/news/current/call-for-paper-itch-2019.php

Enhancing Public Health Organizational Capacity to Improve Health Equity

The National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH) is seeking public health departments to partner in a two-year project (project overview) to increase effective organizational capacity for health equity-oriented action. The project will combine an international learning circle and three public health departments acting as practice sites. This is a great opportunity for your organization to gain know-how, staff skill and knowledge. Please consider applying (site expectations).

Project goal: Learn what frameworks, strategies and organizational conditions are most useful and effective to develop and sustain such capacity in the Canadian public health context.

Process: Sites will participate in a learning circle that combines evidence appraisal, expert opinion, practice-based innovation and collaborative learning. Each site will design and implement a project to improve health equity action that fits with your organization’s priorities and fiscal allocations.

Organizational benefits:

• Support from the NCCDH for the implementation of a concrete, time-limited organizational change project with actionable steps
• Access to state-of-the-art expertise, current evidence and awareness of emerging innovations
• Enhanced, mutually supporting professional networks

New application deadline: April 13, 2018.

Le Centre de collaboration nationale des déterminants de la santé (CCNDS) est à la recherche de services de santé publique prêts à jouer le rôle de partenaires dans le cadre d’un projet de deux ans (survol du projet) qui vise à renforcer la capacité organisationnelle d’agir sur l’équité en santé. Le projet comportera entre autres un cercle d’apprentissage international et trois services de santé publique qui joueront le rôle de sites d’essai. Il s’agit d’une occasion inespérée pour votre organisme d’accroître le savoir-faire, les compétences et les connaissances de son personnel. N’hésitez pas à soumettre votre candidature (les attentes).

Objectif du projet : Découvrir quels cadres théoriques, quelles stratégies et quelles conditions organisationnelles sont les plus utiles et les plus efficaces pour développer et soutenir cette capacité dans le milieu de la santé publique du Canada.

Processus : Les sites participeront à un cercle d’apprentissage chargé d’évaluer les données probantes, le point de vue des spécialistes, les innovations fondées sur les pratiques et les apprentissages collaboratifs. Chaque site mettra au point et exécutera un projet en vue d’améliorer sa démarche pour faire avancer l’équité en santé, en concordant le projet en question avec les priorités et les budgets de l’organisme pour les exercices financiers.

Avantages pour l’organisme :

• Soutien du CCNDS dans la mise en œuvre d’un projet de changement organisationnel concret dans un temps limité, y compris les étapes à suivre
• Accès à des compétences de pointe, aux données probantes les plus récentes et à l’information sur les innovations émergentes
• Réseautage professionnel assurant un appui mutuel plus solide

Nouvelle date limite de dépôt d’une demande : le 13 avril 2018.

Health Promotion Canada’s Recognition Awards 2017

Organization Achievement Award Winner

We are excited to announce that the Public Health Association of British Columbia has been selected by Health Promotion Canada as a recipient of one of their 2017 Recognition Awards for Organization Achievement.

We are humbled and appreciative of the nomination and will continue to work hard to create a fair and healthy British Columbia for all.

Below is the excerpt from Health Promotion Canada’s recognition awards website
click here to read about all the other 2017 winners. 

We would also like to congratulate our past president, Paola Ardiles, who is one of the recipients of the Mid-career Award from Health Promotion Canada’s 2017 Recognition Award’s.
Her excerpt from the website is below.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Canadian Association on Gerontology

47th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting

CAG2018: Making It Matter Mobilizing Aging Research, Practice & Policy

October 18-20, 2018
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

http://CAG2018.ca

The Canadian Association on Gerontology is pleased to announce the Call for Abstracts for CAG2018: Making It Matter: Mobilizing Aging Research, Practice & Policy, October 18-20, 2018 in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Join us for Canada’s premier multidisciplinary conference for those interested in individual and population aging.  Abstracts are welcomed from all disciplines and all interests in aging, including research, practice, policy and related work.  International submissions are encouraged.  We are also pleased to offer the CIHR-IA Student Poster Competition and student travel assistance grants.

Abstracts are due by April 16, 2018.

For more information, including discounted room rates at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, please visit http://CAG2018.ca

CAG2018 is hosted by the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University (https://www.sfu.ca/grc.html)

Follow Us!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CdnAssocGero
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cagacg
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/cVwmr9

RAISE THE SALAD BAR IN BRITISH COLUMBIA SCHOOLS

CALL FOR PROJECTS

January 18, 2018 – The Public Health Association of British Columbia, Farm to Cafeteria Canada and the Whole Kids Foundation are launching a call for projects for schools that want to make student access to healthy, local and sustainable food a priority. Thanks to a new panCanadian Farm to School Canada Grant program led by Farm to Cafeteria Canada, up to 5 grants (valued at up to $10,000 each) are available for schools in British Columbia that wish to engage students in a Farm to School salad bar progra.

“Farm to Cafeteria Canada is an important partner of the Public Health Association of British Columbia in ensuring children in British Columbia have access to healthy and nutritious food. We welcome their collaboration and are thrilled to be working so closely with federal government and other jurisdictions in the country” say Shannon Turner, Executive Director, Public Health Association of British Columbia.

“There is a food revolution afoot in Canadian schools. Parents, teachers, students, and food service workers are clamouring for a fresh local crunch in school lunch and local farmers and fishers are eager to deliver. We are excited about the opportunity to continue to seed, feed, and watch this movement grow!” says Joanne Bays, National Manager Farm to Cafeteria Canada.

The application deadline is March 31, 2018. For more information about the grant program and to see the inspiring stories from past grantees visit: http://www.farmtocafeteriacanada.ca/ourwork/farm-to-school-canada-grants/ Farm to School: A growing movement
Farm to Cafeteria Canada is proud to champion the national Farm to School movement. F2CC works closely with the Public Health Association of BC, the lead agency spearheading Farm to School efforts in British Columbia. Today, more than 11,000 schools and campuses across the country are providing more than 750,000 students with an opportunity to experience Farm to School through school gardens, cooking programs, salad bars and many other activities. These schools and campuses estimate they spend nearly $16 million annually on local food.
The national Farm to School Canada Grant program was created as a partnership between the Whole Kids Foundation (WFK) and Farm to Cafeteria Canada (F2CC). To date, the WKF has invested over $1 million in this program designed to support school communities in their endeavours to get more healthy local foods on the minds and on the plates of students. F2CC is the national agency delivering the Farm to School Canada Grant program.

For more information:
 

Richard Han

Provincial Manager

Prov.manager@farmtoschoolbc.ca
 

OR

Joanne Bays

National Manager Farm to Cafeteria Canada

250-384-7787

Joannebays@gmail.com

Please click here to view the Call for Projects