Building a Culture of Equity in Canadian Public Health

The first two are: • Integrating social determinants of health and health equity into Canadian public health practice: Environmental scan 20101; and • Boosting momentum: Applying knowledge to advance health equity.2 The purpose of the NCCDH environmental scan process is to explore the context for public health work undertaken to address the social determinants of health and improve equity in popul [...] This scan is focused on exploring this context and the implications for the public health sector in undertaking effective action to address the social determinants of health and improve health equity.a It is guided by research questions that were developedb and refined to intentionally focus on organizational capacity, governance and leadership for public health action to address health inequities [...] It was established to guide the implementation of the environmental scan and analysis of findings, including the development and refinement of the research questions, selection of the contractor, identification of key informants, recommendation of relevant literature and review of the draft report. [...] The decentralized structure of the health system in Canada, however, means that public health roles and legislation are not consistent across jurisdictions.4,5 The key informants confirmed this assessment, reporting that the various interpretations and integrations of public health roles across Canada have resulted in the fragmentation of public health service delivery. [...] KEY INFORMANT, PUBLIC HEALTH Although the key informants were divided in their opinions on the matter, there were a number of opportunities identified to help the public health sector build action on health equity across the health sector as a whole: • Ensure a senior public health leader is sitting at the senior leadership table in the health authority.