October 2010 - In Addition…

Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) Symposium: Healthy Communities and Planning for Food - A Harvest of Ideas

OPPI’s Healthy Communities, Sustainable Communities initiative and the corresponding release of Planning by Design: a healthy communities handbook have brought much focus to planning for healthy, walkable communities. However, there is more to be done.

The OPPI symposium, to be held on October 28-29 in Guelph, will examine the many issues associated with food and how this relates to the planning profession and other key stakeholders — including public health professionals — interested in fostering healthy and sustainable communities.

This two-day event will address the issues from both an urban and rural planning perspective. Speakers come from a wide variety of backgrounds who are knowledgeable about planning for food. There is also a second day of intensive training workshops that will focus on the symposium topic. These sessions will allow attendees to further explore issues and actively participate in discussions.

 

Ontario Burden of Infectious Disease Study Results Released

The Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (OAHPP) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences recently released the results of Ontario Burden of Infectious Disease Study.

The study examined data from several sources including census estimates, vital statistics, public health reportable disease data, health-care utilization data, cancer registries, and epidemiological studies. It estimates that in Ontario there are over 7,000,000 infectious disease episodes and nearly 4,900 deaths from infectious agents each year. Utilizing health-adjusted life-years measurement, the study found that the Hepatitis C virus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, human papilomavirus, Hepatitis B virus, Escherichia coli, HIV/AIDS, Staphalococcus aureus, influenza, Clostridium difficile, and rhinovirus were the most burdensome among the 51 infectious agents examined. Results of the study will be very important to support evidence-based priority setting and decision making regarding public health programming. The results of the study will be available shortly on the OAHPP website.

 

Lakehead University Highlights its Masters of Public Health Program

Please download the program's flyer [PDF] for more information.