Federal and Provincial Governments Address the Determinants of Health

Canada Aligns with the Rio Political Declaration on the Social Determinants of Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health in 2011. The declaration is a commitment of the member states to address health inequities and make the determinants of health a priority. Canada is one of the member states and has taken measures across various tiers of government and sectors to progress the 5 themes of the declaration (Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), 2015).

The 5 main action areas of the declaration considered vital to addressing health equities are:

· To adopt better governance for health and development

· To promote participation in policy making and implementation

· To further reorient the health sector towards reducing health inequities

· To strengthen global governance and collaboration

· To monitor progress and increase accountability (PHAC)

Canadians are proud of their publicly funded health care system, however, health inequities continue to exist. The major responsibility for delivering health care lies with the provinces and territories that are tasked with implementing measures to address these 5 key areas. To address the key area of reorienting the health sector toward reducing health inequities the province of Ontario developed the Public Health Standards. The Standards guide and mandate the work that the public health units are responsible for. Although actions to address health equity are scattered throughout the standards, there is a separate section devoted to the topic, the Health Equity Guideline 2018 (Government of Ontario, M. of H. and L. T. C., n.d.).

The province of Ontario through the Public Health Ontario corporation also developed a 3 phase, 8 step process to support stakeholders in addressing health inequities when designing policies. This tool assists the policy developer in determining the problem, identifying possible solutions, developing action plans, implementing, and analyzing policies. Using evidence based interventions when building policies can lead to better health outcomes (Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, 2018).

References

Government of Ontario, M. of H. and L.-T. C. (n.d.). Ontario Public Health Standards - Programs and Services - Health Care Professionals - MOHLTC. Retrieved June 6, 2019, from http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/oph_standards/protocolsguidelines.aspx

Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario). Bergeron K. Supporting the policy-making process: A workbook. Toronto, ON: Queen’s Printer for Ontario; 2018. Retrieved June 6th, 2019, from: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/supporting-policy-making.pdf?la=en

Public Health Agency of Canada. (2015, August 07). Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health: A Snapshot of Canadian Actions 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2019, from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/science-research-data/rio-political-declaration-social-determinants-health-snapshot-canadian-actions-2015.html