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Sept 17-24, 2007
In this blog, regular text denotes information and factual tems. Observations/comments on the events are noted in blue font and then posted in the Discussion Forum (See navigation bar at the top of the page, or go directly from the "thread' posted on the specific page). We apologize in advance for any narrowness in our vision, knowledge or experience.
School Drop-Out Rates and Health (Posted 20-09-07 by Doug McCall)
The connection between health status and behaviours and educational achievement is captured in an excellent article in the October 2007 edition of Preventing Chronic Disease, pubkished by the Health & Human Services Department in the United States. The article notes that health problems are quite often a contributing ot causal factor in leaving school early, including this surprising statistic.
"Teenage pregnancy is the leading cause of dropping out of school for adolescent women; an estimated 30%–40% of female teenaged dropouts are mothers" For a copy of the full, free-access article, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0063.htm
The September issue of the Journal of School Health (Vol. 77 Issue 7) includes:
Federal Health Minister Pulls it Together (Posted 20-09-07)
Federal Health Minister Tony Clement spoke to the Canadian Public Health Association on September 16 and delivered a good overview of the strategies and actions taken thus far under his watch. He referred to several items that indicate some new directions in public health (For discussion on this national policy approach, go to the Discussion Forum, select National Policies on Public Health, Education):
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/minist/health-sante/speeches-discours/2007_09_18_e.html
Some Provinces Introduce New Phys Ed Program (Posted 20-09-07 by Doug McCall)
British Columbia and Manitoba have introduced new requirements for PE instruction. BC will be requiring 30 minutes of PE instruction per week and Manitoba has extended mandatory PE throughout high school. Ontario has recently required students in Grades 1-8 to have at least 20 minutes per week of PE. These changes reflect a new policy environment for PE that is different than just a few years ago, when Alberta and BC tried to make similar chnages and were unable to do so in the face of widespread reluctance in their school systems.
Things I learned at the CPHA Conference (Posted 22-09-07 by Doug McCall)
I don't often get the chance to attend conferences that I am not organizing, so it was real pleasure to be a participant learning about new things. Here are a couple of facts about youth health that stuck with me. If you go to the CPHA web site, you will likely be able to track down these items
- At the pre-conference workshop on alcohol policy, I learned that according to the World Health Organization unsafe sexual health practices is the second highest contributor to the global burden of disease, right after low birth weights and higher than tobacco or alcohol use and 26 other health threats.
As an aside, I learned that 345 people die each month in Canada from prostate cancer. This is only slightly below the 355 people that die each month from alcohol abuse.
- I also learned that alcohol consumption has been increasing in Canada for the last few years and that binge drinking is an emerging risk for older teens and young adults with significant increases since 1995.
Sessions at the Alcohol workshop discussed the ambivalent attitudes that we have about alcohol use in society, where although it is illegal, we actuallycondone teen use of alcohol in many instances, seeing it as part of growing up. (This is much like sexual health, where we try to pretend that our children are not sexually active or interested in sex until we discover that they are. This reinforced my view that like sexual health, we need to focus more on specific behaviours when we seek to prevent alcohol use....such as not doing harm to others (either driving or at parties or in using alcohol to obtain sex), binge drinking, drinking when alone, etc. I wonder how many school curricula address those specific harms?
School Drop-Out Rates and Health (Posted 20-09-07 by Doug McCall)
The connection between health status and behaviours and educational achievement is captured in an excellent article in the October 2007 edition of Preventing Chronic Disease, pubkished by the Health & Human Services Department in the United States. The article notes that health problems are quite often a contributing ot causal factor in leaving school early, including this surprising statistic.
"Teenage pregnancy is the leading cause of dropping out of school for adolescent women; an estimated 30%–40% of female teenaged dropouts are mothers" For a copy of the full, free-access article, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0063.htm
The September issue of the Journal of School Health (Vol. 77 Issue 7) includes:
- Building Bridges Between School-Based Health Clinics and Schools
- Overheard in the Halls: What Adolescents Are Saying, and What Teachers Are Hearing, About Health Issues
- Use of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to Monitor Trends for Nutrition and Physical Activity in a Midwest City School District*
- Sexual Attitudes and Risk-Taking Behaviors of High School Students in Turkey*
- The Strength of School Wellness Policies: One State’s Experience
- Identity Theft and Consumer Health Education: A Case Study Teaching the Skill of Decision Making
Federal Health Minister Pulls it Together (Posted 20-09-07)
Federal Health Minister Tony Clement spoke to the Canadian Public Health Association on September 16 and delivered a good overview of the strategies and actions taken thus far under his watch. He referred to several items that indicate some new directions in public health (For discussion on this national policy approach, go to the Discussion Forum, select National Policies on Public Health, Education):
- the use of GIS technology to create maps of local data was highlighted. As survey data becomes more sophisticated, it will be increasingly possible to create portraits of local communities.
- The Public Health Agency of Canada has published its first five year plan. Preparedness for emergencies for pandemics and natural disasters was cited as important parts of the Agency work to date.
- several disease strategies have been launched in the last 18 months on HPV, cancer, heart health, lung health and mental health. Each of these strategies will have prevention components and will include considerations for SH promotion.
- The overall capacity of the public health system was also a theme in the speech. The development of core competencies for PH professionals and the appointment of 24 PH Officers in provinces/territories was noted.
- The Healthy Living strategy was positioned as addressing physical activity and healthy eating. The re-launch of Participaction, the Food Guide and the tax incentive for kids physical activties were cited.
- The Minister spent considerable time foreshadowing the new Anti-Drug strategy (that likely will be launched at a November Conference. The 2007 budget has set aside $10 million for prevention of the $64 million total.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/minist/health-sante/speeches-discours/2007_09_18_e.html
Some Provinces Introduce New Phys Ed Program (Posted 20-09-07 by Doug McCall)
British Columbia and Manitoba have introduced new requirements for PE instruction. BC will be requiring 30 minutes of PE instruction per week and Manitoba has extended mandatory PE throughout high school. Ontario has recently required students in Grades 1-8 to have at least 20 minutes per week of PE. These changes reflect a new policy environment for PE that is different than just a few years ago, when Alberta and BC tried to make similar chnages and were unable to do so in the face of widespread reluctance in their school systems.
Things I learned at the CPHA Conference (Posted 22-09-07 by Doug McCall)
I don't often get the chance to attend conferences that I am not organizing, so it was real pleasure to be a participant learning about new things. Here are a couple of facts about youth health that stuck with me. If you go to the CPHA web site, you will likely be able to track down these items
- At the pre-conference workshop on alcohol policy, I learned that according to the World Health Organization unsafe sexual health practices is the second highest contributor to the global burden of disease, right after low birth weights and higher than tobacco or alcohol use and 26 other health threats.
As an aside, I learned that 345 people die each month in Canada from prostate cancer. This is only slightly below the 355 people that die each month from alcohol abuse.
- I also learned that alcohol consumption has been increasing in Canada for the last few years and that binge drinking is an emerging risk for older teens and young adults with significant increases since 1995.
Sessions at the Alcohol workshop discussed the ambivalent attitudes that we have about alcohol use in society, where although it is illegal, we actuallycondone teen use of alcohol in many instances, seeing it as part of growing up. (This is much like sexual health, where we try to pretend that our children are not sexually active or interested in sex until we discover that they are. This reinforced my view that like sexual health, we need to focus more on specific behaviours when we seek to prevent alcohol use....such as not doing harm to others (either driving or at parties or in using alcohol to obtain sex), binge drinking, drinking when alone, etc. I wonder how many school curricula address those specific harms?
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| dmccall | National Policies on SH, Public Health, Education | 8 | Jun 23 2010, 6:30 PM EDT by Anonymous | ||
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Thread started: Jun 22 2008, 2:56 PM EDT
Watch
The Canadian Health Minister announced several speciifc strategies responding to health problems at the annual meeting of the CPHA. The new Conservative government has taken a different approach than the previous government in an attempt to get practical; things done more quickly. The previous government had established a Public Health Agency and intergovermental network, which was conceptually broader but the flagship initiatives (healthy living-chronic disease, preparing for pandemics) have ended up being stalled or ended up re-inventing frameworks such as the population health approach,
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