Health Innovation Challenge wrap up

The Health Innovation Challenge has now closed and we’ve got lots of work to do reviewing the incredible entries we received.

If you haven’t been following, in September we challenged students to find innovative policies or practices in Canadian health care and tell us about them for a chance to win $1,000 and a potential internship with the Health Council of Canada.

Students prepared entries of up to 2,500 words, answering one of these two questions:

How are innovations in public policy having a positive impact on health care in Canada or abroad? Describe a ground-breaking public policy initiative that is changing practices, outcomes or perceptions of health care.

How are new practices having a positive impact on the delivery of health care in Canada or abroad? Describe leading edge research, technology or processes that are changing practices or outcomes of health care.

We are impressed not only with the calibre of the entries, but of the sheer volume of them, and so we want to share a few early results from the Challenge.

• Number of students who entered: 223
• Number of entries submitted (individual and team): 154
• Biggest turnout from one school: 84, from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia
• Received entries from: Nova Scotia, Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, B.C., Saskatchewan, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

                                                           

We received entries on a wide variety of health practices and policies. Some recurring themes were: safe-injection sites, HPV vaccines, Aboriginal health, poverty reduction, wait times, technology in health care, and obesity initiatives.  

We were especially impressed by students who added to their entries by crafting a blog post, or a video to support their message (hopefully we will get a chance to share some of these on this blog).

We will be announcing the shortlist on February 15, 2012, and after our panel of experts have reviewed the list we will announce the winners on March 26, 2012. Good luck to all the contestants, and thank you to each and every professor who either encouraged students to enter or who used the Challenge as a class assignment.  

Key Words: Health Innovation Challenge, Innovative Practices, Student Contest

Health, Not Health Care – Changing the Conversation

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health recently released her 2010 Annual Report, calling for a change in the way society thinks about health. Titled Health, Not Health Care – Changing the Conversation, the report calls for a clear understanding that our health is significantly affected by the economic, social and environmental conditions that shape our lives.

Dr. Arlene King wants to see a comprehensive plan to improve the health of Ontarians that features clear health goals, targets, and health indicators. She urges provincial, regional, and municipal governments to apply a health lens to every program and policy in the province, using a tool such as Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to assess the potential health effects of any policy, program or project. And she recommends breaking down the systemic barriers that get in the way of collaboration between different sectors, including health, education, social services, and the environment.

These are important messages from a provincial Medical Officer of Health. The majority of factors affecting our health are complex and intertwined, requiring the problem-solving skills of multiple government departments, multiple levels of government, and other sectors of society. The report is an excellent and accessible summary of the issues. As Dr. King points out in her report, a comprehensive overall plan is needed “to address the disconnect between what we know needs to be done, and our ability to do it.”

Elaine Kachala (policy lead) and Judy Irwin (writer) worked on the Health Council of Canada’s report on the determinants of health, Stepping It Up: Moving the Focus from Health Care in Canada to a Healthier Canada (Dec 2010).

Second edition of BC Atlas of Wellness shows connection between “healthy, wealthy and wise”

Researchers at the University of Victoria have released an expanded edition of the British Columbia Atlas of Wellness. The Atlas details indicators that they believe measure the foundation of a healthy community – like exercise, smoking, diet, and adequate housing – in an attempt to explain why certain communities are healthier and fitter than others.

Using more than 400 maps, the Atlas shows a connection between “healthy, wealthy and wise”:  the healthiest communities tend to be wealthier, better educated, have better diets, exercise more and smoke less.

In a recent report, we looked at how the determinants of health, for example, income, education, relationships, and housing, affect Canadians over the long term. We found that individuals with the lowest incomes are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and heart disease, live with a disability, be hospitalized, suffer from mental distress, and to die earlier. Low income Canadians are twice as likely to use health care services as those with the highest incomes – which means addressing the determinants of health can play a significant role in health system costs.

Governments need to recognize that in order to reduce the burden on the health care system, we must achieve a better balance between investing in an acute care system and investing in factors like these that affect our health. Moreover, governments need to think and work differently, since health is not just the responsibility of health ministries – rather, it is the responsibility of governments and society as a whole. Our report spoke to how governments can and are moving towards a whole-of-government approach – that is to say, involving multiple ministries and levels of government and other sectors of society to improve health.

The first edition of the BC Atlas of Wellness was published in 2007. Both the earlier and current editions can be viewed online at www.geog.uvic.ca/wellness.

Key Words: Health Promotion, BC Atlas of Wellness