Impact and Highlights

The following is a partial list of current activities and accomplishments OPHA has achieved in various aspects of its mandate—Government Heath Policy, Supporting the Public health Profession and Promoting Healthy Public Policy--in recent months.

OPHA Influences Government Health Policy

  • Participates in revisions of Ontario’s Public Health Standards, laws and regulations.
  • Made recommendations to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care on Health Disparities and Accessibility that are now reflected in the Public Health Standard.
  • Influenced the post-SARS Public Health Renewal Process with recommendations that are now being implemented.

OPHA Supports Public Health Professions

  • Leads the implementation of core competencies for Ontario’s Public Health practitioners.
  • Provides programs, training, consultation and support to all Public Health Units in food security, chronic disease prevention, alcohol misuse, healthy eating and many more.
  • Produces diversity training modules to serve at-risk populations.
  • Hosts Ontario’s largest Annual Public Health Conference.
  • Facilitates delivery of standardized services to the public by providing professional development opportunities, programs, to over 7,000 Public Health professionals.

OPHA Promotes Healthy Public Policy

  • Promotes a poverty reduction strategy to improve the health of the community.
  • Advocates on air quality issues, contributing to the phase-out of coal-fired power plants.
  • Promotes policy positions on key environmental health issues.
  • Speaks out against corporal punishment of children.
  • Advocates for keeping the LCBO public, ensuring the responsible sale of alcohol.
  • Maintains the only Alcohol Policy Network in Canada, contributing expertise and informing the policy process in many regulated bodies and ministries of government.
  • Advocated for maintaining a leading edge public health laboratory, the lack of which was evident during SARS.
  • Influenced the creation of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion.
  • Pioneered efforts to ban cosmetic use of pesticides which is now widely accepted
  • Earned acknowledgement from Health Canada by leading Public Health sector demand for public information on mercury in fish.
  • Provides training and consultation services for all of Ontario’s 37 Heart Health partnerships.
  • Recruits and trains community champions who promote children’s health and safety.
  • Sets new standards for youth engagement through exemplary “drink smart” projects such as the keepcontrol.ca
  • Influences 120,000 Ontario mothers each year through a leading edge breastfeeding curriculum used in universities, community health centres and Tele-Health and public health units in Canada and internationally.
  • Reviewed Student Nutrition Program Standards for Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services to provide healthier meals for over 500,000 children every day.
  • Published a research paper (Ethical Research and Evidence-Based Practice for Lesbians and Gay Men [PDF]) that blazed an equity and access path for bi-sexuals and transsexuals seeking health care.
  • Reached more than 40,900 people by training 303 volunteer peer nutrition educators to deliver a Community Food Advisor Program.
  • Launched the BusyBodies program on health eating and active living by placing 19,000 copies of its toolkit into the hands of Ontario’s childcare providers.

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