Violence Prevention
OPHA formally recognized violence as a public health issue in 1997 and created a workgroup whose mandate was to provide consultation and direction regarding the implementation of violence prevention initiatives to OPHA, Public Health Units, Community Health Centres and communities across Ontario and Canada. The workgroup’s primary objective was to inform OPHA members of current violence prevention issues and contribute to healthy public policy on violence prevention.
The Violence Prevention Workgroup in Action…
- Advocated for the Ontario Government to change the public health mandates to explicitly include violence prevention requirements.
- Produced an OPHA position paper, Public Health and Violence Prevention: Maintaining the Momentum
- Supported the development of a National Strategy on Violence Prevention through participation on the Steering Committee and workgroups of Prevention of Violence Canada-Prévention de la violence Canada.
- Developed an online searchable database of violence prevention resources.
Impacts
- Public health standards have been revised and provide the opportunity for public health units to work with communities to reduce violence.
- Co-hosted four national Town Hall Meetings on the development of a national strategy on violence prevention. Lessons learned from strategy development will be shared provincially so public health units are better equipped to work with communities and other partners to reduce violence.
- Played a key role in establishing Prevention of Violence Canada-Prévention de la violence Canada.