Grant: Operating Grant: Population Health Intervention Research

Chronic diseases are among the most prevalent and costly health issues in Canada, and they are among the most preventable. The major chronic diseases are commonly the result of poor health choices or risk factors like tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, obesity and alcohol misuse. It is crucial to address the conditions that facilitate unhealthy behaviours. This study aims at understanding how collaboration between different sectors of government can help create the necessary conditions to improve population health. The initiative ActNowBC provides an illustration of intersectoral action for health. The initative was launched in 2005 in order to ensure that the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games would leave a health legacy to the population of British Columbia. ActNowBC is credited to having played a role in making British Columbia the healthiest jurisdiction to have ever hosted the Olympics. This study will now document how the initiative will operate in order to reach new health promotion targets by 2015. Our focus will be of the coordination and accountability mechanisms put in place within government in order to achieve those targets.