Grant: Operating Grant: Population Health Intervention Research - LOI

In 2003, the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) won the bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The government of the day made the achievement a window of opportunity to establish a health promotion legacy for the people in the province. To this end, it launched ActNowBC in 2005, an intersectoral initiative that integrates the actions of the whole-of-government with those of civil society to achieve health promotion targets by 2010. Four of the targets refer to risk factors that are common to several chronic diseases- tobacco use, physical inactivity, low consumption of fruits and vegetables, and being overweight or obese. The necessity of involving different sectors of government and society to reduce the chronic disease burden has been highlighted in several international reports but we still lack a solid evidence base about the required processes and success factors. In 2009, we published a case study report about the ActNowBC initiative. The report highlighted several success factors, including 1) diverse strategies and mechanisms that fostered intersectoral collaboration; 2) the presence of high-level leadership and 3) the capacity of balancing planning and action in order to move ahead even though not all the elements nor ideal conditions were in place. We concluded that the mechanisms and strategies adopted as part of ActNowBC were "promising best practices" that could inform other jurisdictions in the development of similar initiatives. However, the critical issue of sustainability could not be fully addressed with the initial case study given its end point. It remains to be seen if ActNowBC will deliver a health legacy beyond the 2010 Games. The main objective of this new case study is to assess progress in the implementation of ActNowBC since 2009. There will be a special focus on coordination mechanisms and accountability structures, two key features of intersectoral initiatives that can enable or constrain sustainability.