I absolutely agree.  These guys are useless...

dr







Graeme Bacque <[log in to unmask]>@YORKU.CA> on 06/20/2006 05:11:20 PM

Please respond to Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]>

Sent by:    Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]>


To:    [log in to unmask]
cc:

Subject:    [SDOH] Ontario rolls out $10M healthy living plan (and they
       missed the boat - again!!!)


Hey guys - how about ensuring the poor have enough income so they and
their families can eat right? - Graeme
-----------------------------------------------

http://tinyurl.com/fd52e

Ontario rolls out $10M healthy living plan
Jun. 20, 2006. 05:03 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

Bulging waistlines, a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits
are the targets of a new government initiative aimed at convincing
Ontario residents to live a healthier lifestyle.

Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson unveiled the province’s $10-million
action plan for healthy eating and active living Tuesday at a YMCA
family development centre in Toronto.

The plan’s initiatives, the details of which are to be unveiled over the
course of the next 12 months, focus on boosting awareness and
participation in active lifestyles.

The move is in response to a 2004 report by Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontario’s
chief medical officer of health, that called for a broader provincewide
effort to tackle obesity.

“The statistics really are quite staggering,” Watson said of childhood
obesity rates in particular, which have more than tripled in the last 15
years. More than half of all youth aged 12 to 19 aren’t active enough to
receive maximum health benefits, Watson said.

He also renewed his call on Ottawa to revive the ParticipAction program
set up in the early 1970s to promote a physically active lifestyle to
Canadians.

Watson said he plans to ask federal Health Minister Tony Clement to
invest funding in health advocacy programs such as ParticipAction when
the pair attend a meeting of sports ministers Wednesday in Ottawa.

Ontario’s plan includes a pilot project that will provide fruits and
vegetables grown in the province to children in northern Ontario schools.

Nutrition information will also be made readily available through a new
phone and web-based dietitian advisory service, based on a similar
program set up in British Colombia.

Families and health care providers will be able to call a toll-free line
or submit questions online about their dietary choices.

The Health Promotion Ministry will team up with the Ministry of
Education to launch a healthy school recognition program, and will
promote resources to community organizations to help create safe routes
for children to bike and walk to school.

“The work that we’re involved in is very much a marathon, it’s not a
sprint,” Watson said.

“We’re not going to see results overnight, we’re not going to see a
dramatic decline in obesity rates, or physical activity increases over
the course of the next few months.”

The plan is a way for the government “to act as a catalyst with
community groups and not-for-profit groups to work together,” he said.

Watson received feedback from 11 community roundtable groups made up of
more than 1,000 individuals and organizations in tabling the plan.

Basrur applauded the government’s efforts, and said it’s critical to
tackle the issue of poor health habits and its taxing effects on the
health care system.

“Our society is battling twin evils — increasingly sedentary lives, and
super-sized portions of high-fat, low-nutrient foods, and the
implications for our health care system are truly enormous,” Basrur said.

“To put it bluntly, we cannot afford to continue to live the way that we
do.”

Basrur said obesity is contributing to dramatic increases in illnesses
including heart disease, stroke, hypertension and that about 30 per cent
of all cancers are due to unhealthy eating and lack of exercise.

Obesity costs the province about $1.6 billion a year, according to a
2001 study cited by the government.

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