Healthy public policy aims to create supportive environments to enable people to lead healthy lives by putting health on the policy agenda in all sectors and at all levels. The concept of building healthy public policy was introduced in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986.
Recognizing that health is determined by more than health services alone, healthy public policy shifts attention to a much wider range of economic, social, environmental and political forces. Less about efforts to modify behaviors on an individual level, public health advocacy focuses on social and environmental change. Advocacy for healthy public policies is one of the core competencies of public health practitioners in Canada.
Contact:
Sarah Prowse, Healthy Public Policy Specialist, sprowse@wrha.mb.ca
Healthy Public Policy is an approach that is used across many key service areas. The Population and Public Health program is developing and implementing a healthy public policy strategy. This approach aims to support effective policy action that reduces health inequities and improves health in the Winnipeg Health Region.
Healthy Public Policy - Program Monitoring Report, 2015
Healthy Public Policy Toolkit Documents
Understanding & Engaging in Healthy Public Policy: Describes healthy public policy, Population & Public Health steps and roles in engaging in healthy public policy.
Advocacy : Describes advocacy for healthy public policy and is a guide for WRHA Population and Public Health Program teams to engage in advocacy.
How To Documents
Development of Regional Position Statements: Details on position statements and describes the process for developing regional position statements.
Healthy Public Policy Issues Process: Describes a process for communication about public policy issues, and the process for policy referrals for consultation, triage and recommended next steps. See related documents below
- Healthy Public Policy Issues Form : Use this tool to guide discussion with a team or working group, raise a public policy issue, and propose actions.
- Public Health Nursing Practice Council Healthy Public Policy Issues Form : Use this tool to raise healthy public policy issues with an existing PHNPC Issue Paper.
- Policy Action Input Map : Depicts who informs policy priorities and action.
- Population & Public Health Groups Map : Depicts the community areas, centralized service areas, leadership groups, practice councils and working groups.
- Populations & Public Health Groups Functions : Describes the functions and purpose of the leadership groups, practice councils and working groups.