Healthy Alberta Communities
Co-Principal Directors
Kim Raine
Ron Plotnikoff
Co-Directors
Candace Nykiforuk
Lisa Purdy
Don Schopflocher
Paul Veugelers
Cam Wild
Project Overview
Why we are doing this work?
Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Four of the most common chronic diseases – cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, lung disease, and type 2 diabetes – are linked to risk factors such as tobacco use, poor diet, and a lack of exercise. All of these diseases, which are common and costly, are preventable. Evidence shows that programs aimed at the environmental, economic, social and political determinants in the population and at major risk behaviours will help to prevent chronic diseases.
This project will build on the work of the Healthy U campaign of Alberta Health and Wellness. The Alberta Healthy Living Framework, which includes seven priority strategies, will guide the work. These strategies are partnership development and community linkages, awareness and education, surveillance, best practices, research and evaluation, health disparities, and healthy public policies. The Framework was developed by the Alberta Healthy Living Network (AHLN), a World Health Organization-Countrywide Integrated Non-communicable Disease Intervention (CINDI) demonstration site. Through a variety of community partnerships, the Healthy Alberta Communities project team will help communities make changes and remove barriers to make healthy choices easier.
Who is involved?
The Centre for Health Promotion Studies is housing Healthy Alberta Communities: Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes and other Chronic Diseases, a project funded by Alberta Health and Wellness. The project is operating in four communities in Alberta: Norwood/North Central Edmonton, St. Paul, Bonnyville, and the Medicine Hat area.
What will we be doing?
The project team will work with groups in each of the four intervention communities to remove physical and social barriers that prevent people from making healthy lifestyle choices. For instance, one community may see the need for making healthy food available within schools; another community may choose to make walking trails safer. A third may work on making the community more inclusive for people in poverty who struggle to make healthy choices. The project team will track changes in the health of community members as well as the process of change in the communities.
What will be the benefit?
There are three main purposes of the Healthy Alberta Communities project:
1. To develop knowledge and skills in community members so they are able to tackle the root causes of chronic diseases and prevent them.
2. To offer community-driven health promotion programs that make it easier for people to make healthy choices.
3. To find the “preventive dose” – delivering the right health promotion strategy, in the right amount, and reaching the right number of people – to reduce chronic disease in Alberta.
Timeframe
2004-20010
Partner
Alberta Health and Wellness
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