Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport Update
Presentation to
The Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Health
June 3rd, 2011
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Presentation Overview
• Ministry overview and updates on priority areas
• Structure and roles
• Healthy Eating updates
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Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport
VISION
Healthy communities working together
and Ontarians leading healthy and active lives.
MISSION
Champion health promotion across Ontario and inspire partners
to create a culture of health and wellbeing for all.
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Ministry of Health Promotion & Sport
MHPS Mission
Strategic Policy,
Partnership and
Research Branch
Develop provincial health
promotion and prevention
policies, plans, strategies and
partnerships to promote health
and wellness.
Sport, Recreation and
Community Programs Branch
Valuing sport and recreation by
providing support and oversight to
sport and recreation, and
implementing programs. Work with
communities to implement health
promotion programs and
strategies.
VISION
Healthy communities working
together and Ontarians leading
healthy and active lives.
Serve as project management
office for ministry activities; and
design, manage and incubate
provincial health promotion and
prevention projects, programs
and initiatives.
MISSION
Champion health promotion across
Ontario and inspire partners to create a
culture of health and wellbeing for all.
Communications Branch
Develop and implement ministry
communications strategies and
products including public
education and social marketing
programs.
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Strategic Initiatives
Branch
Standards,
Programs and
Community
Development Branch
Develop and direct
accountability relationships and
provide advice on public health
standards; and work with
communities to develop
community capacity.
Next steps for a Smoke-Free Ontario
Continue working with key partners to build on the success of current
Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy by implementing the advice outlined in the
Tobacco Strategy Advisory Group report.
Public health units have been instrumental in the delivery of the SmokeFree Ontario Strategy and will continue to play a key role.
The new 5-year plan will include initiatives to:
- Build a tobacco use cessation system which improves access and availability
of medications, counselling and support services
- Decrease the number of young people who take up smoking
- Maintain efforts to protect Ontarians from second-hand smoke
- Reduce access to illegal tobacco products
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Social Marketing
MHPS is working with partners in Ontario to spread a culture of health and
well-being through public education and social marketing.
MHPS’ goal is to become a centre of excellence for social marketing
related to health promotion.
Learning from best practices in other jurisdictions, conducting original
research to better reach youth audiences, and working with our partners
— including public health — MHPS will develop and implement a long-term
social marketing plan.
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Ministry of Health Promotion & Sport
MHPS Website
MHPS is renewing and updating its’ website so it better supports the
mission to empower and inform Ontarians on how to live healthier, more
active lives.
The refreshed website will provide higher quality and better
presentation of content for consumers and key MHPS audiences.
The content will be organized into two distinct sections: corporate and
consumer. The corporate section will house information on our ministry,
our programs and initiatives. The newly expanded consumer side will
focus on healthy living information for Ontarians and will have a new
user-friendly design and several new features for our visitors.
One objective of the new consumer site is to feature healthy living
content from partners.
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2015 Pan and Parapan American Games
A globally recognized major international sporting event:
- Pan Am Games: July 10 – 26, 2015
- Parapan Am Games: August 7-14, 2015
An estimated 10,000 athletes, para-athletes and team officials
participating in 48 sports from 42 countries from South, Central, North
America and the Caribbean.
A regional Games hosted by 17 municipalities in the Greater Golden
Horseshoe, with Toronto as the geographic hub.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) will work with
MHPS, Toronto 2015 and other partners to ensure that the appropriate
level of medical services are available for athletes, officials and visitors
during the Games.
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Ministry of Health Promotion & Sport
Valuing High Performance Sport Sport
High-Performance Sport
Staging the Pan and Parapan American Games in 2015 enables us to
leverage/maximize opportunities for athletes and sport development.
Bringing a new focus to sports excellence, sport hosting and athlete
development so that in five years when we host the Pan Am Games, we will be
competing at our best.
To achieve this, we will:
Strengthen support systems and competitive and training opportunities
 Build and sustain adequate community and high-performance sport
sport facilities
 Invest in sports that have a track record of producing podium results
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We are working with sport partners to build a foundation of skills and physical
literacy in children.
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Ministry of Health Promotion & Sport
Public Health in MHPS
Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport
Standards, Programs and
Community Development Branch
Public Health Units and Standards Unit
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MHPS Funding
MHPS Funds 4 Ontario Public Health Standards
• Chronic Disease Prevention
• Prevention of Injury and Substance Misuse
• Reproductive Health
• Child Health
MHPS funds $250.7M for PHUs to implement the four Standards
• Makes up approximately 47% of total transfer of OPHS
• Does not include:
- HBHC 100% funding (managed by MCYS)
- CINOT expansion funding
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Other MHPS Funded Public Health Unit
Programs
Public Health Units and Standards manages:
• Healthy Communities Fund – Partnership Stream
•
CINOT Expansion
Tobacco and Chronic Disease Prevention Unit manages:
• Smoke-Free Ontario
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Diabetes Prevention Program
Who is in the Unit?
Manager
Laura Belfie
Clerical Support
Christine Chmielewski
Regional Public Health Consultants
Rae Whitton
Nomi Caplan
Andrea Smith
Program and Standards Advisors
Sandy Bennett
Colleen Kiel
Anne-Joyelle Occhicone
Janette Bowie
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What is Our Work?
 Accountability Agreements and Performance Measurement:
• Develop and implement Accountability Agreements
• Identify performance measures for public health units
 Promote partnerships and collaboration
 Program policy direction and expert advice
 Promote consistent and innovative public health practice
 Build inter-ministerial and relationships
 Engage public health units
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What is our role?
All unit members:
• Present public health positions but do not advocate
• Share responsibility for Accountability (Program Oversight),
Program Policy and Stakeholder Engagement
• Provide strategic advice, policy options and respond to information
needs within MHPS
• Individualized portfolios based on expertise, workload demands,
interests and opportunities
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Regional Public Health Consultants
• First point of contact for Public Health Units when seeking
information, clarification, etc
• Manage Healthy Communities – Partnership Stream
• Support development and delivery of major initiatives, for example:
• Public Health Engagement,
• Accountability Agreements
• CINOT Program
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Who do we work with?
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Public Health Units
Chief Medical Officer of Health
Other ministries: MCYS, MOHLTC, EDU
Public Health Agency of Canada
OPHA
alPHa
Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion
Resource Centres
Public Health Networks
Non Governmental Organizations
What has changed?
Still in a period of transition:
• Need to be flexible to respond to shifting priorities
• Focus on Accountability and Program Policy and less on direct support
for knowledge exchange
• OAHPP has a mandate for knowledge exchange, technical advice and
surveillance
• Working with OAHPP to clarify roles and communicate them
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Moving Forward
• Complete initial development of Accountability Agreements
• Confirm and continue to develop Performance Indicators
• Establish direction for OPHS Protocols and Guidance Document
revision with MOHLTC and MCYS
• Continue to work on:
• Implementation of Healthy Communities Fund
• Public health engagement
• CINOT Expansion
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Moving Forward
We must continue to strengthen relationships with current health
promotion partners.
Importance of continued alignment with Public Health Units:
 Will continue to work with Public Health Units to
ensure the delivery of Ontario’s Public Health Standards.
 Government is moving forward on implementing a
performance management framework for public health
in Ontario, along with accountability agreements for 2011.
 Continue to work on joint priorities – e.g. Partnership Stream
of Healthy Communities Fund – aligned with Ontario Public
Health Standards.
 Continue to build on engagement and communication
mechanisms with PHUs.
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Ministry of Health Promotion & Sport
MHPS & Healthy Eating
Ontario supports the recommendations of the National Sodium Working Group
who released their report in July, 2010 calling for the implementation of
voluntary sodium reduction targets immediately.
We are working with federal provincial, public health, food service
and other partners on this important initiative.
Through the Declaration on Prevention and Promotion that was signed by
Ministers of Health/Health Promotion in September 2010 governments agreed
to work together and with private, non-profit, municipal, academic and
community sectors, and with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, to improve
health and reduce health disparities and to build and influence the physical,
social and economic conditions that will promote health and wellness.
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Ministry of Health Promotion & Sport
MHPS & Healthy Eating
Nutritious Food Basket
2011 data due on July 1st.
Guidance Document working group to meet for discussion of
issues, etc.
Health Unit contacts to be asked for input.
Gathering issues and recommendations for Guidance Document
review process.
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MHPS & Healthy Eating
Northern Fruit & Vegetable Program
The Northern Fruit and Vegetable pilot was launched in the 2006-07
school year in the Porcupine region. The program was expanded to the
Algoma region in 2007-08
Since 2007-08 fruit and vegetable snacks were made available to nearly
12,000 northern Ontario children in approximately 60 schools annually.
In 2010-11 NFVP was expanded to additional schools in the Algoma (35
new schools) and Porcupine (17 new schools) districts for the January to
June time period, bringing the reach of the program to more than
18,000 northern Ontario children in 110 schools.
Currently, MHPS is continuing to work with NFVP partners to determine
ways to better promote fruit and vegetable consumption amongst
Ontario children and youth.
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MHPS & Healthy Eating
EatRight Ontario
The EatRight Ontario service is currently hosted by Dietitans of Canada
(DC) and can be accessed through 3 channels:
• the Call Centre staffed by registered dietitians
• the email-a-dietitian feature
• the ERO website
ERO is available and accessible to all residents of Ontario, Monday to
Friday from 9am – 5pm with extended hours Tuesdays and Thursdays
from 9am – 9pm.
ERO provides supports to the Ontario diabetes Strategy and the School
Food and Beverage policy through staff expertise and related resources.
Over the past year, there has been active outreach to the community,
community organizations and health professionals to gain a better
understanding of client needs, identify opportunities, build/strengthen
relationships and promote ERO service offerings.
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MHPs & Healthy Eating
Nutrition Resource Centre
Since 1999, the NRC has been funded to support nutrition professionals in
public health, community health centres, family health teams and NGOs
primarily through implementation of provincial healthy eating programs
and development/dissemination of provincial nutrition resources.
In addition, NRC provides consultative services and input on provincial
programming and strategies that include a food and nutrition component
such as EatRight Ontario. NRC has also provided support for the following
Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport and other provincial strategies:
• Healthy Communities Fund
• Ontario’s After-School Initiative
• Ontario Public Health Standards
• Childhood Obesity Prevention
• Ministry of Education’s School Food and Beverage Policy
MHPS is working with NRC to shift to a greater focus on content and policy
support for the Healthy Communities Fund (HCF) and Public Health units in
implementing the Ontario Public Health Standards.
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MHPS & Healthy Eating
Health Check
In 2005 the National Health Check™ Program expanded into restaurants
and in 2006 the first provincial program was developed in British
Columbia (BC) with government support.
In 2009 Ontario launched the provincially funded Health Check™ Ontario
Restaurant Program and currently has 5 participating licensees including:
• Pizza Hut; Casey’s; Pizzaville; Swiss Chalet; Druxy’s
Evaluation results indicate that consumers were choosing Health Check™
items where they are being offered, felt it would be helpful to have
nutritional information beside menu items at a restaurant, were aware
of the Health Check™ program and were confident that a menu item
with a Health Check™ logo beside it is a healthy option.
Survey results indicate registered dietitians believe that consumers need
assistance making healthy choices when dining out and that the Health
Check™ program can be helpful to consumers in this setting.
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MHPS & Healthy Eating
Diabetes Prevention Strategy
MHPS manages a $5 Million commitment from Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care as part of the government’s Diabetes Strategy.
MHPS is working with a range of partners to provide diabetes prevention
activities and raise awareness of the risk factors, specifically in higher
risk communities including low-income, people of Aboriginal, Asian,
South Asian, Hispanic, and African-Caribbean descent.
One of the key programs supporting the Diabetes Strategy is the EatRight
Ontario service which has developed a number of resources, including
culturally adapted fact sheets on healthy eating topics, to help ethnic
groups prevent and manage diabetes.
Public health partners in Peel and Toronto are working with South Asian
and African-Caribbean communities to not only raise awareness of
diabetes, but also provide workshops on healthy cooking and physical
activity. Porcupine, North Bay, Timiskaming, Sudbury, and Algoma health units
have also recently started work in support of the MHPS's diabetes prevention
strategy.
An evaluation is also underway.
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Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport
Healthy Communities Framework 2011/12
Healthy Communities working together and Ontarians leading healthy and active lives.
Vision
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Goals
Create a culture of health and well-being
Build healthy communities through coordinated action
Create policies and programs that make it easier for Ontarians to be healthy
Enhance the capacity of community leaders to work together on healthy living
Healthy Communities Fund Components
Partnership Stream
Grants Project Stream
A cost-sharing grant program that supports
eligible organizations to develop and deliver
non-capital health promotion initiatives in
partnership with other organizations.
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Guiding
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Principles
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Resource Stream
Promote coordinated planning and action among
community partners to create policies that make it
easier for Ontarians to be healthy.
Empower communities using a shared decision-making model
Strengthen partnerships within and between communities and
between local and provincial partners
Mobilize a variety of community partners and sectors for
change
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Provides training and support to build
capacity for those working to advance health
promotion in Ontario, including local
Partnerships and organizations that apply for
funding through the HCF Grants Project
Stream.
Focus on those at-risk for poor health to reduce disparities
Build on research, evidence and experience
Accountable to communities and the ministry through
measurable outcomes
Work toward sustainable programs and strategies
Priorities and Outcomes
Physical Activity, Sport
and Recreation
• Increase access to
physical activity, sport
and recreation
• Support active
transportation & improve
the built environment
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Injury Prevention
Healthy Eating
• Increase access to
• Promote safe
healthier food
environments that
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Develop food skills
prevent injury
and healthy eating
• Increase public
practices
awareness of the
predictable and
preventable nature of
most injuries
Tobacco Use/ Exposure
• Increase access to
tobacco-free environments
Substance &
Alcohol Misuse
• Support the
reduction of binge
drinking
• Build resiliency and
engage youth in
substance misuse
prevention strategies
Mental Health Promotion
• Reduce stigma and
discrimination
• Improve knowledge and
awareness of mental
health issues
• Foster environments that
support resiliency
Other issues:
Public Health Nutritionist Capacity
Context:
Difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified Public Health Nutritionists in
Ontario.
The criteria and process for assessing Public Health Nutritionist Qualifications
requires updating and clarification
Advisory Committee established; work to date has focused on:
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Clarification and interpretation of the Health Protection and Promotion Act,
Regulation 566, (Section 7)
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Advising on the on the job requirements of Public Health Nutritionists
within the context of the 2008 Ontario Public Health Standards
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Developing a tool to support PHUs in assessing educational and experiential
qualifications
HPPA – Reg. 566, Sec (7)
7. (1) The requirements for employment as a public health nutritionist by a board of health
are that the person be registered with the College of Dietitians of Ontario and that the
person,
(a) be the holder of a master's degree from a Canadian university or a university post
graduate diploma from the University of Toronto issued prior to the 31st day of December,
1979, with a major in community nutrition or public health nutrition;
(b) be the holder of a master's degree from a Canadian university in human nutrition together
with community nutrition courses or field or work experience in community nutrition or
public health nutrition;
(c) be the holder of a qualification issued by a university outside Canada and accepted as
equivalent to the qualifications set out in either clause (a) or (b) by a Canadian university; or
(d) has knowledge and experience that the Minister considers equivalent to the requirements
set out in clause (a) or (b). R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 566, s. 7 (1); O. Reg. 630/00, s. 2.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who was employed as a public health
nutritionist by a board of health on the 1st day of July, 1984. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 566, s. 7 (2).
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Questions?
My contact information:
Colleen.kiel@ontario.ca
416-327-7787
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