COMOH Built Environment Work Group

The knowledge base concerning the effects of the built environment upon health is increasing rapidly, as also is the level of interest in the topic within public health, and beyond.

Many health units are involved in the issue, particularly in working with municipal planning departments to revise official plans to incorporate health concerns; Examples include Toronto, Peel, Halton, Simcoe, Durham, and Waterloo. The Ministry of Health promotion and sport and the OAHPP also have an interest, as also do some academic departments such as the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at U of T/St. Michael’s, and the school of Urban Planning at the University of Waterloo. Last, but not least, many professional planners and their organizations have been involved for several years.

There could be little doubt about the importance of this issue: rapidly increasing prevalence rates of overweight and obesity and of diabetes constitute a serious threat to the health of the population, and there is ample evidence that action upon the built environment is an important means of intervention.

This is a new field in which multiple stakeholders are undertaking many initiatives, often duplicating activity and navigating the same barriers. The value to be derived from sharing experiences is obvious.

It is also accepted that there is a need for public health in Ontario to engage interested parties outside public health. These include professional planners, public health in other provinces (eg. Through the Healthy Canada by Design Project which involves the Urban Public Health Network), and, most importantly, the provincial government. Multiple governments departments are potentially involved in this issue, and their cooperative action is necessary in order to facilitate the work being done in public health. For example, several health units, and OPHA and alPHa submitted comments on the current review of the Provincial Policy Statement.

• The Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health endorsed the formation of a working group at its November 25 2010 meeting, with the aims of
• Engaging the provincial government and advocating for policy change to support health-built promoting environments.
• Liaison with other stakeholders, including but not limited to, planning organizations, municipal government organizations (AMO), academics, and OAHPP.
• Promoting the exchange of knowledge and resources concerning built environments and health.
• Acting as a central point of communications on the built environments health when it is desired to have a COMOH position.

The Working Group will comprise a minimum of four COMOH members and will report to the COMOH membership through its Executive Committee.