The risk of contracting coronavirus varies among people and places, making some British Columbians more likely to be exposed to COVID-19 than others, due to socio-economic factors, occupational hazards, personal behaviours or other factors that are amplified in places characterised by increased risk of transmission. To better understand this, we developed a vulnerability model to identify differences in COVID-19 risks across neighbourhoods, visualized in a series of maps on a public-facing dashboard that indicate where to focus policy and public health efforts. In this presentation we discuss how we worked with patient partners and some of the actions that have been informed by our maps. Dr. Valorie Crooks, Professor, Simon Fraser University Leah Rosenkrantz, EH & KT Scientist, NCCEH
Le CCNSE offre régulièrement des présentations dans le cadre d’activités liées au secteur de la santé environnementale tenues partout au Canada, et il organise des ateliers ainsi que des réunions sur divers sujets. Vous trouverez ici une liste de certaines présentations faites dans le cadre de conférences et de webinaires d’organismes externes, en plus de présentations tirées de notre Série de séminaires sur la santé environnementale.
The effects of climate on the environment and human health impacts have been increasingly observed with some negative health outcomes shown through mortality and hospitalization data. Warning systems are put in place by public health authorities to intervene during episodes of extreme weather events. In Quebec, the SUPREME system that was developed by the Institut National de Sante Publique du Quebec (INSPQ) has been used for a decade to document relevant and real-time information for Quebec’s extreme weather hazards and their associated heat and all-cause mortality. However, other extreme events such as cold in Nordic regions or air pollution in large cities are also important to study. It is therefore important to adapt this system using appropriate methodologies so it can be applicable to specific health impacts that may be linked to other extreme weather hazards. In this presentation, Dr. Fateh Chebana will focus on cold-mortality and hospitalisation data in Quebec, as well as…
Food systems are the complex web of activities and interactions that include food production, transportation, processing, retailing, preparation, and finally disposal. While these food systems are generally thought of as largely agricultural or rural, Pothukuchi and Kaufman’s landmark paper in 1999 highlighted the importance of urban food systems in particular, and encouraged urban planners to incorporate food system considerations into municipal and regional plans. Areas of focus included: preserving agricultural land, preventing and processing food waste, environmental outcomes related to food production, processing, distribution, and storage, and ensuring adequate access to healthy food. This webinar will be an overview of food system planning interventions that have been implemented and evaluated since 1999, with a specific focus on outcomes related to environmental sustainability, economic development, availability of healthy food, individual food behaviours, and nutrition-…
Urban areas are the hot spots of global warming. Extreme heat, alongside flooding and wildfire, is a key risk to the health and well-being of Canadians. The situation is growing more dangerous, driven by irreversible climate change— Canada is warming, on average, at twice the global rate.
Urgent action is required now to manage risk and avoid worsening impacts – and ultimately fatalities.
The good news is that heat-related illness and death are largely preventable with knowledge, education, and adaptive action. However, resilience to extreme heat cannot be achieved by relying on air conditioning alone.
This presentation will provide an overview of new national guidance, representing input from over 60 subject matter experts, outlining practical actions that Canadians can undertake to reduce risks from extreme heat including:
changing behaviour (non-structural) working with nature (green infrastructure) improving buildings and public infrastructure (…In the past decade, climate change-exacerbated landscape disturbances such as wildfires and floods have threatened water security by altering not only water availability, but also source water quality and consequently treatability. An international panel convened by the Canadian Water Network and the Water Research Foundation in 2014 concluded that sole reliance on in-plant treatment technologies for mitigating such risks is inadequate.
Algae blooms—especially cyanobacteria—pose some of the greatest associated challenges to drinking water treatment. Cyanobacteria blooms can reduce drinking water treatment process efficiency, leading to service disruptions, inability to meet community demands, and even outages. Moreover, they can produce toxins that expensive advanced treatment not found in most conventional treatment plants.
Traditional source water protection approaches are alarmingly inadequate for managing these threats, especially in a changing climate. These…
This presentation will highlight the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health’s (NCCIH) collaboration on the 2022 national assessment titled the Health of Canadians in a changing climate: Advancing our knowledge for action, produced by Health Canada’s Climate Change and Health Innovation Bureau. This comprehensive study of current and projected risks from climate change to the health of Canadians included a chapter dedicated to climate change and Indigenous Peoples’ health in Canada. Contributing author, Donna Atkinson will provide an overview of the key findings of this chapter; a summary of specific climate change risks to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples’ health; the role of Indigenous knowledges and rights in climate change adaptation, research and policy; and knowledge gaps for future research.
Donna Atkinson, MA, National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health
Donna Atkinson is the Manager of the National Collaborating Centre for…
The population of adults aged 60-plus is growing rapidly around the world, expected to more than double to more than two billion by 2050, and the World Health Organization has declared 2020-2030 the “Decade of Healthy Ageing” in response to this demographic shift. Although much of the conversation around healthy aging has focused on individual risk factors and health behaviors, the built, natural, and social environments all play significant roles. This webinar will describe indicators of age-friendly environments at the community level, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and in rural settings, as well presenting findings from an indicator-development effort within the global Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study (PURE). In light of the increased vulnerability to COVID-19 at this stage of life and the additional restrictions on social interactions that have resulted, we’ll also discuss what is known about roles for community design in reducing social…
Rising temperatures are one of the biggest global health threats of the 21st century. They underscore a critical need for ambitious adaptation and advancement of protective measures to safeguard the health of populations. The threat of rising temperatures is even greater in Canada because the country is warming 2-3 times faster than other regions. The record-setting heat dome that engulfed western Canada in late June 2021 was associated with at least 740 excess deaths among older Canadians, and it strained provincial health services to a near breaking point. This catastrophic event followed on the heels of record-breaking temperatures in 2020, which capped the hottest decade ever recorded in Canada and the planet. While the negative health impacts of heat are predictable and largely preventable, improving population health outcomes requires that policy makers, frontline clinical staff, health managers, and others have comprehensive knowledge of factors affecting heat-vulnerable…
La distribution géographique des tiques est en expansion rapide en raison du changement climatique, de la migration des animaux et des changements à l’aménagement du territoire. Ce projet visait, d’une part, à mieux comprendre les effets des tiques sur la santé publique canadienne provoqués par ces transformations et, d’autre part, à montrer que certaines stratégies de conception et de gestion de l’environnement peuvent réduire le risque d’exposition aux tiques dans les parcs, les propriétés résidentielles et autres espaces extérieurs. Il comprend quatre rapports : une analyse des risques de santé publique associés aux tiques au Canada, une présentation des impacts du climat et des changements à l’aménagement du territoire sur les risques liés aux tiques, un examen des stratégies de gestion environnementale pour réduire les populations de tiques, et la synthèse de ces leçons sous forme de fiches descriptives simples destinées aux professionnels et usagers des parcs, aux concepteurs…
Depuis quelques années, les villes du Canada et du monde entier repensent leur approche d’aménagement des voies cyclables, favorisant désormais la mise en place rapide (quick build). Grâce à cette nouvelle approche, elles sont à même d’offrir des aménagements cyclables sûrs et agréables – et des réseaux complets – plus rapidement et à coût moindre qu’avant. La flexibilité de ce processus permet aussi de modifier rapidement et de manière réactive le concept; à mesure qu’ils sont pérennisés, les aménagements continuent ainsi de répondre aux besoins d’un large éventail d’utilisateurs et de contribuer au dynamisme, à la prospérité et à la résilience des collectivités.
La mise en place rapide s’inscrit dans une réponse urgente à nombre de problèmes critiques touchant notamment la santé publique, l’urgence climatique, les inégalités sociales, la sécurité et la congestion routières et le resserrement continu des budgets municipaux. C’est pourquoi cette approche est devenue…