After the launch of the "Primer to Action - Social Determinants of Health" in April 2007, the partners received overwhelmingly positive feedback. They also recognized that there was further work to be done. Many public and community health intermediaries in Ontario understand the relationahip between chronic disease and social determinants of health, while others understand intuitively that social conditions influence health. However, very few Ontario organizations working in health, social service, educational and community change effectively address SDOH.

To address this gap between knowledge and action, the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance and the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse will collaborate on the second phase of this project - Priming Action - which has been funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario – Nunavut.

Chronic disease can no longer be explained only as an outcome based on engaging in the 'wrong' health behaviours. There is a need to look beyond individual responsibility to understand the ways in which the social environment shapes the decisions we make and the behaviours we engage in."
Chronic Disease in Ontario and Canada: Determinants, Risk Factors and Prevention Priorities, Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, March, 2006, page ix

Primer to Action: Social Determinants of Health, is an electronic resource for health professionals, lay workers, volunteers and activists from different sectors to understand and influence how the social determinants of health impact chronic disease. Set in an electronic, easy to read format, with hundreds of links and resources, it is a practical resource for busy health and community workers, activists, in their capacity as staff, volunteers or community members.

Primer to Action provides a point of entry to understand and take action on six health determinants: Income, Employment, Housing, Food Security, Education and Inclusion. It offers concrete suggestions for change in the community, the workplace and the broader society.

This new, improved and expanded second edition of the Primer provides:

Expanded content on all six determinants of health
New sections on how each determinant links to chronic disease
Updated and wide-ranging links and resources from Canada and around the world.

Click here for the new edition of the Primer.

This resource is a collaborative project of the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, and Health Nexus. It draws upon the skill and expertise of numerous health, social, and education professionals and organizations.

In 2005 Health Nexus started to work more deliberately in the area of mental health promotion. Part of this work involved networking with like-minded organizations and joining efforts to further the mental health promotion agenda at a provincial level.

In January, 2008 a partnership was formed between Health Nexus, Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Division, Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, the Centre for Health Promotion, and the Ontario Public Health Association. A policy paper outlining a vision for promoting mental health in Ontario has been produced and it is hoped the recommendations will be used to shape the future of mental health in the province.

For more information, please contact Mary Martin Rowe, Health Promotion Consultant at .

In the spring of 2006, a team representing the Ontario Health Promotion Resource System engaged in a dialogue with colleagues in capacity building organizations in the United States on promising practices for health promotion resource centres.

The goal of this project is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of health promotion resource centres (Ontario Health Promotion Resource System) by identifying promising practices among well-established U.S.-based resource centres.

We have entitled this dialogue Health Promotion 2020 because the end goal of capacity building is to help organizations and communities improve our population's health. The dialogue is forward thinking and encourages a focus on the future of health promotion.

As a member of the Ontario Health Promotion Resource System (OHPRS), OPC contributed to the development of this free course, "Health Promotion 101". The project was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

The course was created in a stand-alone online format to help maximize its accessibility. We recognize that many of our members' clients find it difficult to travel to scheduled, face-to-face events or simply prefer alternative methods of learning. We hope that by making these materials available online, with no registration required, people will find innovative ways to use them to support their health promotion work.

OPC has been an active member of the Best Practices in Health Promotion Workgroup in collaboration with the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Toronto.

The workgroup developed and tested a conceptual model known as the Interactive Domain Model (IDM). An operational set of procedures to use in identifying and implementing a best practices approach to health promotion has become known as the IDM Framework.

OPC supported a best practices francophone committee to test the applicability and relevance of the IDM in the Franco-Ontarian context. Click here to learn about the tools developed in French.

For more details on the best practices project and resources, please consult the Evaluation and Best Practices Unit Website at the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Toronto.

The Health Determinants Partnership (1996-2002) was a collaboration among Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse (OPC), Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC), Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA), Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) and the Centre for Health Promotion to bring attention to research about the social and economic determinants of health.

Are Widening Income Inequalities Making Canada Less Healthy? (available in English only) paints a clear picture of the risks we face in the future if we continue to loosen our social infrastructure and social programs.

This report highlighted studies that suggested that the gap between rich and poor erodes the health of the population. Canadians cannot afford to be complacent about income in our society.

Download Executive Summary , 212.5 kB
Download Full Report 3.74 MB
Note: This is a large file and may take a considerable amount of time to download over a standard dial-up connection

The Making Connections Project also provided resources for each of us to make new connections with our own health, the people around us, as well as our communities. These resources are available for download in English and French.

Booklet: Making Connections: Health is a Community Affair (, 431 Kb)

Posters:

Loneliness is bad for your health
Family Pressures can harm your children's health
Job stress can be hard on your health
Unemployment is bad for your health