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Vote for Public Health

Better than almost anyone, those of us who work in Public Health know how important our work is to the people of Ontario. We know how we support overall population health by monitoring community health status, promoting healthy behaviours, identifying, minimizing and eliminating health hazards, investigating and managing disease outbreaks, enforcing health protection laws, and responding to health-related emergencies. Public Health is the ounce of prevention that is worth the pound of cure.

And we also know that Public Health needs help. The steps taken since 2004’s Operation Health Protection are a good foundation upon which to build, but much more needs to be done. This election comes at a critical juncture in the future of Public Health.

As Community and Public Health professionals, as voters and as citizens, it is our duty to prepare for and take action to influence the outcome of the upcoming election. To ensure the future of Public Health, we must inform ourselves about the positions – and the records – of political candidates on the issues relevant to our work.

In order to help our members, colleagues and stakeholders prepare for this election, OPHA and alPHa have come together to urge you to vote for Public Health. There are three components of this election activity, all of which will be released in September:

1. A Public Health Primer that alPHa has updated to reflect the current environment.
   


2. A Public Health Messages pamphlet for all political candidates, the substance of which is listed below.
   


3. A 2007 Provincial Election Guide that we hope you will use as you participate in the upcoming election. In it you will find important information and a number of questions to ask candidates at your door, on the phone, and at All-Candidates' meetings.

1. Maintain the momentum of Operation Health Protection by
   
   

   1. Swiftly implementing the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. In its first year the focus must be on establishing a specialized Public Health laboratory to support the field in infection and communicable disease control and emergency preparedness. After establishing the laboratory the Agency must turn its attention to chronic disease and injury prevention and environmental health working in the areas of risk communication, research and knowledge transfer and surveillance.

   
   

   2. Revitalizing Ontario’s Public Health Capacity by following through on the 50 recommendations made by a group of experts who provided their best advice in the Capacity Review Report. Specifically we would like the newly elected government to invest in the public health workforce by taking steps to train, recruit and retain Medical Officers of Health and other public health professions which have or will have shortages in the next few years unless measures are taken.

   
   

   3. Taking steps to ensure that Public Health Units have stable and predictable funding that offer the same level of excellence in Public Health Programs and services throughout Ontario.

   
   

   4. Ensuring adequate, stable, and predictable funding to support the implementation of the Public Health Standards that have been developed and supported by public health professionals across Ontario.

   5. Supporting policies that emphasize prevention of illness over treatment and allocate resource accordingly.

      1. We specifically request that there be increased investment in the Healthy Eating and Active Living program from $10 to $19 million.

      2. We also want to see investments in the newly released Injury Prevention Strategy. As the strategy highlights, injuries cost Ontario approximately $5.7 billion in direct costs to the health system and lost productivity. However, 95% of all injuries are both predictable and preventable, and adequate investments in such a strategy has been linked to significant cost avoidance along with a 20% reduction in falls among seniors and children and a 30% reduction in motor vehicle collisions.

      3. New funding for these two initiatives should largely go to Public Health in order to build capacity to strengthen these program and policy areas.

   
   
   
2. Address Social/Economic Determinants of Health
   Social and economic determinants of health include income and employment status, education, social and physical environments, healthy child development, access to health services and more.
   
   Poverty is widely considered to be the number one risk factor in poor health.
   
   Therefore, candidates must commit to an income security strategy that includes immediate increases to social assistance rates and minimum wages to ensure that all Ontarians have sufficient resources for shelter and adequate and nutritious food.



3. Invest in strategies to improve the environment and health
   Environment and health are consistently the top two concerns in public opinion polls, and research has shown time and again that these are inseparable.
   
   Candidates must take the following steps to ensure that environmental health threats to Ontarians are drastically reduced.
   
   

   1. Support the adoption of a government requirement for Public Health Impact Statements, similar to Environmental Impact Statements, as part of government policy.

   2. Make and keep a commitment to improve Ontario’s air quality by investing in conservation and alternatives to coal generated power.

   3. Develop and implement a toxic substance reduction strategy in collaboration with industry.

   4. Commit to a strategy to comprehensively address children's health and the environment, including issues of prevention, treatment, educational and social support, pollution prevention, and remediation of housing.

A government that takes action on these issues will substantially contribute to improving the health of all Ontarians.