To all subscribers:
I thought members might be interested in the official press release,
also available at www.gov.ns.ca.
PROVINCIAL HEALTH COUNCIL--Provincial Health Council Completes
Health Status Indicator Development
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The Provincial Health Council announced today, Feb. 9, that it
has completed work on the development of a series of measures
that will help monitor the health of Nova Scotians.
The council approved its final report and presented a copy of the
summary report to Health Minister Angus MacIsaac late last week.
During a two-year process involving experts and community
representatives from across the province, the council developed a
series of 12 reports and a database of 150 indicators of the
health status of Nova Scotians.
The data collected for each of the indicators will be used to
report to Nova Scotians about their health and will allow
comparisons of the health of Nova Scotians to the health of
residents in other provinces and other countries. The database
will be updated over time, allowing tracking of changes in the
health status of Nova Scotians.
It is one of the largest databases of health status indicators in
Canada and is the only one of its size based on the social
determinants of health.
The council has received interest in the database, and the
approach used to develop the indicators, from health researchers
from across the country and from as far away as the United
Kingdom and Guatemala.
The council used the 12 social determinants of health set out by
Health Canada as a framework to develop the 150 measures of the
health of Nova Scotians.
"When the Provincial Health Council held public consultations in
2000, council members heard that people were interested in the
broader forces that affect the health of our population," said
Catherine Randall, chair of the Provincial Health Council. "Using
the social determinants of health as a framework allowed us to
move beyond only looking at the health-care services available as
a measure of health, to looking at the broader forces that affect
our health such as personal health practices, the social
environment, working conditions, gender, and culture, to name a
few."
The council will be using the indicator work and the collected
data to develop five more reports that advise Nova Scotians about
their health. A report will be released in each of the next four
years looking at the health status of one age group: children and
adolescents, young adults, mature adults, and seniors. In the
fifth year of the process, a report will be released on health
issues that are of concern to all age groups. The cycle of
reports will then be repeated.
Council members hope these reports will be used by organizations
-- such as community health boards, school boards, and community
groups -- to develop action plans to bring about positive changes
in the health of local residents.
Over the next few weeks the council will hold a series of focus
groups in communities across the province to gather feedback on a
draft of the first report, which looks at the health status of
children and adolescents. The final version of that report is
expected to be released in the spring.
Copies of the 12 social determinants of health indicator reports,
and more information about the indicator development and
reporting processes, are available on the council's website at
www.healthcouncil.ns.ca or by calling the council office at 1-
800-854-0815.
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Contact: Beth Rajnovich
Provincial Health Council
Phone: 1-800-854-0815 or 424-1639
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
David F. Mercer
Research & Statistical Officer
Nova Scotia Provincial Health Council
1888 Brunswick Street, Suite 301
Halifax, NS B3J 3P7
Phone: (902) 424-0183
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