News

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment – Open letter re: Pacific Northwest Liquified Natural Gas

Posted on September 12, 2016

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment has learned that the decision about Pacific NW LNG will be going to cabinet either this week or next. CAPE has written an open letter, which says,

“We are writing to you as physicians, medical learners, allied health professionals and health advocates to request that you reject the Pacific Northwest Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Project until its human health impacts have been fully understood, communicated, and addressed.”

The link to sign the letter is here (you have to scroll past the references to click submit)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchEMjM029xFiQnpsrpay-9ELg-jm8ThMo4x_qj5yFaxeawbQ/viewform

The goal is to collect signatures until Monday/Tues and send a press release out either Tuesday or Wednesday. We will then post the letter in its entirety at the CAPE website.

For more information or questions, please contact Dr. Courtney Howard at Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (416) 306-2273 ext. 1

Twitter: @courtghoward

Two new methods to guide your public health practice!

Posted on September 6, 2016

A Guide to Policy-influence Evaluation:Selected Resources and Case Studies

http://www.nccmt.ca/registry/view/eng/241.html

The method was developed to help organizations use policy influence to improve the uptake and evaluation of evidence-based population health interventions. The guide includes three public health related case studies: healthy weights among Aboriginal children and youth; anti-bullying for primary schools; and food security and obesity.

The authors reference resources developed for health, public health and health promotion policy. Some resources were included from other sectors like social services or education. This method for evaluating policy-influence initiatives can be used to explore the uptake of population health interventions.

An organizational readiness for change method
http://www.nccmt.ca/registry/view/eng/242.html

Since this theory was developed to determine organizational readiness for change in general, it can be applied within a public health setting. This model is best suited for examining organizational changes where collective behaviour change is necessary to effectively implement the change and, in some instances, for the change to produce anticipated benefits.

2016 Summer School Grand Tour

Posted on August 11, 2016

On July 11th and 12th, 2016, more than 100 people from across the province came together to participate in PHABC’s Summer School. The focus of the summer school was “Promoting Health and Sustainability: The Case of Climate Change and Energy Use.”

Four sites were linked via video conference: University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, University of British Columbia- Okanogan, and University of Northern British Columbia. At each of the four sites, local working groups were formed to brainstorm and map local climate change impacts (anticipated or actual) and opportunities for mitigation and resilience building related to three key areas with health co-benefits:

Clean/ low carbon energy systems;
Low meat/ sustainable diets; and
Sustainable community design.

Explore this Grand Tour to view some of the awesome work that was produced by these local working groups!

2016 Summer School Grand Tour

Call for Videos: Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Ottawa Charter at the 6th Global Forum for Health Promotion

Posted on August 9, 2016

Have you worked on a program, project or policy to promote the health of your community or workplace? Have you seen positive results you would like to share with others? Submit a video to be featured at the 6^th Global Forum for Health Promotion, held in Charlottetown, PEI this October. Ten videos that highlight health promotion practices from Canada and around the world will be featured during the event. The Global Forum is known for uniting community and government leaders, policy makers, researchers and practitioners from around the world – so this is a great opportunity to share your project or policy with a captive, international audience.

Applicants must complete an online application form and provide a link to the video. Deadline to submit is August 29, 2016. For online application & more information, visit: http://globalforumpei-forummondialipe.com/en2016/2016/08/08/call-for-videos/

Population Health Data Analysis Certificate (PHDA) – registration opens Aug 19

Posted on August 8, 2016

Go back to school in September!
Register now for our online applied courses in Population Health Data Analysis

Designed for those who work in health or social sciences fields, the Population Health Data Analysis Certificate (PHDA) program provides an excellent opportunity to revitalize your current career, earn professional development credits* or get started in a rapidly diversifying field. This unique program offers:

* A flexible, fully online format
* A diverse set of analytic courses
* *Applied Pro D training

Apply now for the Professional Specialization Certificate in Population Health Data Analysis or take up to two stand-alone courses listed below for professional development starting September 2016.

Do you want to develop skills in the use of administrative data?
PHDA01: Working with Administrative Data provides an excellent orientation to get you on the right track.

* Learn how admin data is used for research
* Develop a data dictionary for your analytic data set
* Gain basic statistical analysis skills to work with admin data
* Use ‘real-world’ admin health data and practice SAS skills via our remotely-accessed Secure Research Training Lab

Looking to understand the intricacies of spatial health data, exposure assessment methods and related analytic approaches in health research? PHDA04: Spatial Epidemiology and Outbreak Detection is a great place to start.

* Explore the particularities of working with geographic data
* Gain valuable skills in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for population health research
* Learn analytic techniques for disease mapping, assessing population exposure to environmental pollutants, and measuring population access to health care services
* Practice hands-on skills using ‘real-world’ data via our remotely- accessed Secure Research Training Lab

*The skills acquired in PHDA 01 and 04 align with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals and are eligible for 10 Professional Development (CPE) credits with CHIMA and CIPHI.

These fully online, non-credit courses are offered as a partnership between Population Data BC, the University of Victoria, Division of Continuing Studies and the Department of Geography.

Apply Today!

Note: Registration is open until August 19, subject to availability. Please review program eligibility requirements prior to registering.

For more information and to apply contact:
Maxine Reitsma, Program Coordinator, UVic Continuing Studies
Phone: 250-721-8481 | phda@uvic.ca

2016 PHABC Conference – Call for Abstracts

Posted on August 5, 2016

Strengthening Healthy Development: Education and Public Health in Partnership

December 11-12, 2016
Sheraton Airport Hotel
7551 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC

ONLINE SUBMISSION: opens August 15^that www.phabc.org

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: September 15^th, 2016 at 5:00 pm, coordinator@phabc.org

The Public Health Association of British Columbia is hosting its annual conference for 2016. This year’s theme is “Strengthening Healthy Development: Education and Public Health in Partnership.” This 2016 conference takes place on the 30^th anniversary of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, a foundational document within the Public Health sector. The Charter recognized that health promotion cannot be achieved by the health sector acting alone and that health promotion involved advocating for structural change and nurturing individual empowerment to allow individuals, families and communities to increase control over their health and well-being.

Likewise, education is not limited to a single sector. Here we include both formal and informal education, from early childhood to old age – in other words, lifelong learning. At the same time, we have a particular focus on the main settings for formal education – schools (K-12) as well as preschool settings, and post-secondary education.

We recognize that the health and education sectors have different but complementary objectives; improving the health of learners contributes to improved learning outcomes, while better education improves health. These themes are reflected throughout the conference planning and program.

Purpose:

To create a forum for deliberative dialogue and respectful exchange of ideas related to the intersections of public health and education, in order to build meaningful collaboration, mutual understanding and support between the public health and education communities in achieving well-being for all.

To view the full abstract description and requirements for submission visit:

Call for Abstracts_2016 PHABC Conference