Healthy Public Policy
VCH Public Health collaborates in communities across the VCH region. Our partners are municipalities, regional districts, First Nations and Indigenous groups, post-secondary institutions, school districts, and non-profit organizations.
We monitor population health trends and identify windows of opportunity to influence public policy.
Health begins in the communities where we live, work, learn, and play.
Social, economic, and physical conditions can promote or protect health, but not everyone has the same opportunities to reach their full health potential. Public Health works to create supportive environments and address the factors that influence health and well-being.
Healthy public policy considers how decisions will impact community health.
Policies made by all sectors shape the social conditions that influence people’s opportunities to reach their full health potential. Public Health and policy makers can work together to respect dignity and improve health for all people.
Public Health and communities: co-creating healthy public policies
We work in partnership to support healthy communities through healthy public policy.
Together with local leaders, we co-create solutions that reflect the unique strengths and challenges of each community.
We use research, information about local context, and a relational approach to build a strong foundation for healthy, resilient, and thriving populations.
Healthy public policy work can take many forms. These are just some of the ways we can support health through public policy:
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Co-develop, test, and support implementation of policies that protect people from upstream health risks.
We worked with municipalities, people with lived experience, and technical experts to identify practical policy options to protect building residents from extreme heat and wildfire smoke without increasing housing precarity.
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Develop evidence-informed resources such as toolkits, infographics, and dashboards that show how different sectors can contribute to more thriving, vibrant communities.
We showed how municipal policy tools such as reduced speed limit and separated bike lanes can improve road safety, promote active transportation and independent mobility, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in both rural and urban areas.
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Convene groups and participate in decision-making tables to share knowledge, generate ideas, and collaborate for change.
We facilitated an assembly of elected officials to better understand, prioritize, and make collective decisions about significant health issues affecting several local communities.
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Provide a health and equity lens to Official Community Plans (OCPs) and other local and regional planning processes or strategies.
Along with other VCH teams, we engage with local governments around vision, guiding principles, and input to provide a health lens to planning for wellness, climate action, transportation, poverty reduction, housing, community design, and more.
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Bridge capacity gaps to support community organizations and build resilience.
We are working with a group of non-profit organizations to ensure they can continue to operate through severe climate events and build community resilience to climate change.
Contact us
Email VCHpopulationhealth@vch.ca to connect with the Healthy Public Policy Lead for your community or to discuss how we might work together.
