Interactive Mapping of Environmental Health Assessments | MARCH 19 | 2019
9am-10am pacific | 12 noon – 1pm eastern
Non communicable diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among populations in high income countries. The rapid increase of overweight and obesity among Canadians and its associated consequences, including hypertension and diabetes is a major public health problem, and threaten to halt the declines in cardiovascular disease deaths Canada has experienced in the past 30 years.
Knowledge gaps exist regarding the impact of the built environment in relation to individual risk factor development, and the variation of these built environments across Canada by region and rurality. In order to address these gaps in our knowledge, we convened the Canadian Alliance of Healthy Hearts and Minds – a prospective cohort of men and women recruited from existing cohorts in Canada and through recruitment of a new First Nations cohort study.
As part of the knowledge translation plan of the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds project, we developed and released an on-line, interactive map of 2,074 communities across Canada that conveys the information from our community contextual health audits. In this presentation, I will describe the development of the map, and describe how to access and use the tools embedded in the map.
Russell de Souza is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. He is a registered dietitian, and his research focuses on dietary patterns, health, and how the food environment shapes food choice and risk of cardiovascular disease.
The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has risen drastically in industrialized nations, such as Canada, over the last half of the 20th century. Although the incidence rate in adults with IBD has plateaued in Canada, the incidence of IBD among Canadian children is continuing to rise. Environmental risk factors, such as air pollution may be involved in IBD development, but epidemiological studies are inconclusive.
Michael Elten is currently completing a Master’s degree in Epidemiology in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. His research focuses on evaluating the effects of air pollution on health, with an emphasis on maternal and early-life exposures.
Lawrence Frank is Professor in Sustainable Transportation and Public Health at UBC and specializes in the interaction between land use, travel behavior, air quality; and health. He coined the term “walkability” in the early – mid 90’s; his work led to WalkScore and has been cited over 26,000 times making him one of the 2 most cited planning academics globally. Thompson and Reuters has listed him in the top 1% globally since 2014 as a highly cited researcher. Dr. Frank has published over 150 peer reviewed articles and reports and co-authored two of the leading books – Heath and Community Design and Urban Sprawl and Public Health which helped to map out the field emerging at the nexus of planning and health.